A Brothers Debt
by The Loud Author
Summary: After Lincoln begins to feel like a burden and a failure to his family he wants to try and surprise them with presents but finds himself in debt and working for a shady business practice, doing various tasks. Will he tell his family? Will he be able to shake his depression? Will he be able to tolerate the work? If not, can he keep it secret? (Completed.)
1. Name Draw

**Authors note: Hello all. I hope you like my first fic, I haven't got much writing under my belt nor english is not my first language, but hope you all can like it anyway. I'll do my best to update as often as I can. Please review.**

Another early morning in Royal Woods, Michigan. It was a week after summer had begun. The heat cranked up to merciless. For the season, schools had let out for the vacation. Some would enjoy the peace and have fun in the sun, whilst others would be preparing for vacations or to visit relatives.

The sound of an alarm clock rung inside one small room of a home, in which a bed and a wardrobe took up a majority of the small space. The room only had one window which was tiny and circular, able to be spun around.

"Ugh…" a voice groggily groaned. A hand reached out from under the blankets and hit the snooze button on the alarm, then reached behind the alarm clock and unplugged it from its power source. The young boy sat up, stretching, his freckled and buck-toothed face appearing from the blanket.

"Knew I forgot to turn that off," Lincoln Loud rubbed his eyes. He had slept in until ten in the morning, and had been doing so since summer had begun, and he had somewhat started staying up later than usual. Being the middle child of the family did not really change much. His days were rarely the same. He shared the home with not just is parents, but ten sisters of varying ages, who all too had a lot of their own plans for summer.

The last four days involved arguing for planning future vacations. Lincoln was unfortunate enough to take part of it and give his vote on the location he thought would be great to visit some time during summer and left it at that, since no one could agree at all, he defaulted to opting out of the voting at all and playing with the youngest sibling to take some stress off his parents, even if she was rarely a handful.

After fixing his white-haired bed head, Lincoln got dressed in his usual pair of blue short jeans and orange short-sleeved shirt with two buttons at the top. His bed made, he headed out of his room and into the hall that was so far clear of his siblings, but plenty of random things, dirty clothes, some toys, and a loudspeaker, all of which lay on the floor. Lincoln forgot whose turn it was for laundry. He would have to ask his family about that later.

"Ey! Morning, bro! I was just about to come get you!" he heard a loud voice speak up. He looked beside him to see his older sister Luna step out of her room in a purple shirt with a white skull on the front, an earring dangling out of her left ear and bracelets on both wrists. Her short brown hair was in its usual pixie cut. Lincoln smiled, seeing her. Luna, the third oldest, lived up to the surname by working hard on her rock career and improving every day. If he had to pick a favorite sister, it would be her. He mentally hoped there would not be a day where he had to pick favorites. Imagining it alone was nightmarish.

"Morning, Luna. Where's everyone?" Lincoln hoped she could fill him in on the others' whereabouts. He presumed she was about to come wake him up personally and most likely with the Loud speaker setup nearby.

"Mom and dad just got everyone downstairs for a family meeting. They told me to come get you," Luna explained to her little brother. He did not get a chance to speak up before she had picked him up, and then hopped on the staircase railing and slid all the way to the bottom before she hopped off and put him down.

"Th-thanks," Lincoln nervously laughed. He enjoyed a rail ride as much as his sister, but he would rather enjoy them voluntarily. He could see the other eleven family members gathered in the living room, and the family dog, Charles, resting on his back in his nearby dog bed.

"Good morning, son," greeted their father cheerfully. The young boy was able to tell by the tone that at least this family meeting had good news in it. Their parents' tone was the thing that gave away if it was good or bad.

"Morning all," Lincoln gladly greeted to a Loud variety toned hellos. He sat down at the coffee table, seeing how all the chairs were taken. He noticed nothing but a strange looking hat on the table, one that looked like it had been thrown in a blender and poorly stitched back together afterwards. It was full of various papers, but he could not read what any of them said.

"Alright, settle down, everyone… since the last few days have been very rough and I know there has been arguing behind closed doors," Mrs. Loud was holding the youngest of the family in her arms, Lily, the one year old infant. Lincoln swore that he could hear a few awkward gulps, guessing the ones arguing in privacy realized they were not being so private about it after all.

"And there is plenty of time to think about our summer vacation, so in the meantime, we thought we'd have a nice little family surprise for everyone," Mr Loud continued, before picking up the damaged hat and shaking it a little, the papers crinkling inside. He then held it out.

"Everybody draw one," he insisted. Everyone of the Loud family beyond their parents and Lily drew one piece of paper each from it Lincoln looked down at his confusedly there was a name written on it the paper reading 'Lori', addressing the oldest sibling in the family, whom was quite obsessed with her cellphone. The young boy looked over to her, an older blonde haired girl laid back in her chair, wearing her blue tank top and white jeans. She seemed as confused as everyone else with the random names of their siblings on each piece of paper.

"What are these for?" Lincoln spoke up first. He could take a guess that no one was supposed to know what names were drawn by the others.

"Well this is a random draw. It's quite simple. Whoever's name you draw, you have to get a gift for. We thought it'd be a nice way to relieve everything after the last few days of… bickering," Mr. Loud explained. That was if everyone was up to doing it. Lincoln smiled, thinking it would be nice.

"But you have to do it anonymously. No one can know who gave them their gift." Mrs Loud added. It was meant to be a surprise after all, and in retrospect, anyone should be able to tell whom they received the gift from based on the gift alone. Lincoln felt unsure now but he would be happy with any present from any of his sisters. This looked like the end of the meeting fornow. Lincoln had to wonder to himself what to get Lori. The young boy was prepared for situations where he couldn't decide on a gift, or at least needed an idea for one. Everyone had already scattered to return to their previous activities.

Lincoln decided to focus on the surprise gift for now. He did have a lot of plans for summer at one point. Unfortunately they fell through quite fast at the very beginning. He was going to enjoy any activity his family offered him to tag along for. Just as he went upstairs though, he saw the dog lying in front of his door in the hallway.

"Oh, sorry, Charles. Didn't see you there," the white haired boy chuckled, reaching down and scratching the dog's head a little before he opened the door to his room.

"Come on," he let the dog go inside. Charles had a preference to slumbering in the preteen's room. Lincoln never had much of an idea why, but he didn't mind. Once inside, he closed the door behind him, seeing his pet on his bed already and resting on his stomach, watching as Lincoln went down on his hands and knees, beginning to rummage around under his bed, knocking aside several items to find what he wanted.

"Come on, I know it was down here last time," Lincoln groaned, sitting up and leaning against his wardrobe. The last time he had even touched this item was a few months ago during Christmas Eve. Once it had served its purpose, he had slid it under to the back part of the bed with other important items that were only to be withdrawn only for certain situations. When the young boy got off the floor, he saw Charles sitting in the same spot, instead his tail wagging fast and holding an old, orange book in his mouth. It had a golden heart on the front of it keeping it closed.

"Oh, there it is! Thanks, Charles," Lincoln hummed, taking the slightly drool covered book from his dog, not bothering to question where the dog found it that he couldn't. The young boy sat on the bed, pulling the heart symbol off the button and letting the strip keeping it closed come undone. He flipped it open, beginning to go through each of the few pages.

"Sure hope this helps," Lincoln thought. Each page had a picture of one of his sisters, and under each a written down list of things they either wanted or wanted to do. He mainly wrote them down for future reference. He found himself in a decent amount of awkward birthdays when he got someone a gift they did not want, and it was not like he could give them money. That would be as bad as nothing at all, or worse to some of his sisters. For sure however, he knew Lori would not like nor need cash from him.

"Okay, well… that's not good," he scratched his head. He had reached Lori's page, and unfortunately everything on it was marked off. She already owned every item on said list. Viewing each sisters' individual page and seeing their top most desired item was a bit guilt striking to him, not because he was only getting a gift for one, but because he wished he could surprise them all. Lincoln often either got wrangled into their antics, or they got wrangled into his. All his sisters cared for him too. He just felt like he was not able to express it with words, feeling that he owed them a lot, considering how much they tolerated of him no matter how many times they told their brother it was fine.

"You got any ideas, Charles?" Lincoln turned his head to his dog that was gnawing his front left paw to deal with a sudden annoying itch. Lincoln was focusing on Lori's gift, and the fact that everything was a little more than pricy was not helpful either. He could think of something to show his thankfulness for his entire family later.

"Wait a minute, that's right… Lori's phone has a cracked screen, doesn't it?" Lincoln spoke to himself and his dog, thinking aloud to anyone helped him think better, even if they could not talk back. That and he liked to pretend that he was in an actual conversation with the animal for the sake of it.

"Lynn accidentally hit it out of Lori's hand with a soccer ball…" Lincoln recalled that all too well, mainly the yelling which was so loud that it drew everyone's attention. Thankfully Lori still could use her cellphone just now it had a cracked screen and needed more gentle care or else the broken part would cut the user, a complaint he heard from her a lot. The young boy had no clue where he would get the money for a phone though knowing his oldest sibling she would not want an old outdated model.

"I really should've done better with my saving," Lincoln told himself, feeling Charles licking his hand. He petted the dog happily. Unfortunately, the preteen was broke. He had spent all his savings recently on a new game console. Even if the television in his room was small and crummy, he thought it was fine for gaming, but the timing could not be more off than it was now.

"Lincoln! You should take the dog out for a walk! It looks like it might storm soon!" his mother's voice called out. No matter how loud things were, she could always be heard easily. Charles was already at the bedroom door with his tongue hanging out, panting at the idea of walking.

"A walk sounds pretty nice right now," Lincoln smiled, thinking that could help him think better. He wished he was not feeling like he owed every sister a gift, but he couldn't help how he felt. Whatever he can do, he would do his best. For now, he needed to think up a way to just get money for Lori's new phone. It only took a brief few minutes before he got Charles on his leash before heading out the front door and down the street to get this inevitably unknown length of a walk started.

"Why do I feel like such a bother to them all…?" Lincoln still had that one weird thought echoing in his head.


	2. The Briefcase

Lincoln had spent some time walking his dog. The sky was slowly darkening with dark clouds. Charles had a small issue when it came to walks, where he either got one long one or get twenty small ones, constantly bothering everyone to take him back outside otherwise. Lincoln was more than glad to give the long walk right now. The more he thought on his past actions that had annoyed or bothered his family made him feel like a grand burden. He remembered that whole long plan to get the best spot in the family van at one point, and that backfired immensely and wound up getting nearly all his sisters angry with him for a good few days.

"Wait… where are we Charles?" Lincoln chirped, realizing he had not really been walking his dog rather letting the dog pull him along wherever he wanted to go while his master was lost in his thoughts. They were by a privacy fence to a home, a good few trees surrounding them.

"Oh… it's Ms Krabbaum's old place," Lincoln spoke to his pet, recognizing the white poorly painted boards. They were now probably a mile and a half away from home, but Lincoln had no care that they might have to walk back in the rain. He had fond memories of Ms Krabbaum's before she moved away. She was a nice elder who knew his mother for a long time. The young boy though then noticed a car parked in the driveway, one he could not recognize. Normally he would ignore this, but seeing that the car was a red small sedan that did not seem normal in this area, and had no viewable license plates on it, did not ease his sudden worry.

"Someone's here, Charles…" Lincoln noticed a light flick on for barely a few seconds before being shut back off quick. He did not know what to do about this, but he especially did not want to go jumping to conclusions.

"I need you to stay here, boy," Lincoln told Charles while tying his leash to the nearby tree. The dog sat there whining, already in protest and trying to follow his owner, watching as he approached to the fence, grabbed onto the top and placed his foot against it before pulling himself up. Lincoln hopped over, landing on his side, groaning ash e got back up. He was at the side of the house with a horrible lawn, the grass heightening up to his knees. It had not been taken care of since the previous owner moved away.

"Look through a window or go inside…?" Lincoln wondered to himself. Someone was in there and he could tell they had used the front door to get inside. He decided to try and not follow the same path they went, and instead go the garage window, looking inside through it to see nothing but some garbage.

"Good. Looks like no one repaired it before they left," Lincoln smirked. He remembered hearing his mother's friend complain at least once each visit that she was afraid that her garage window had a rusty lock on it, and every time she would mention that she needed to fix it, but always forgot.

"Well here goes nothing," Lincoln tried to take in a breath of bravery. He was not strong in the slightest, but he was hoping that age would have done all the hard work for him. He pressed his hands on the window and began to push up. He could hear a bit of noise, and then a slight echoing clatter. He saw a small brown object fall off the window and onto the floor, and the window moved with ease.

"In and out, Lincoln… just go in see what's going on, then bail…" Lincoln muttered to give himself some form of courage or confidence in this, but he was more timid than he liked to admit, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. The preteen climbed through the window silently, getting inside. He could hear noise coming from across the house. His best plan in mind was just to find a good position to hide in that would let him get a good view of whatever was making the noise. The further he went in however, the more he regretted not just calling police after first glance of the parked vehicle.

Lincoln made his way into the near empty home. All the lights were out, but thankfully the light outside was getting in between the blinds and shimmering as rays on the ground, mainly in small bars. There were a few pieces of furniture left, mostly stuff the prior owner had little interest in anymore, mainly the long couch that stretched around a corner enough to hold an entire party of people. He heard the sound of wood splintering and breaking, followed by a weird echoing smack.

"You idiot! I told you do as little damage as possible!" a light voice spoke.

"Sorry, sorry! It slipped!" a deep voice replied apologetically. Lincoln heard that from the nearby room. He thought he had enough for his confirmation now. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his outdated flip model cellphone. He never found himself in need of one of those expensive phones. He took a few steps back, ready to dial emergency services the second he got back outside. However he suddenly bumped into something that shocked him. Before he could press call, a slim hand had reached down and closed his phone in his hand, before taking it. Lincoln felt his heart in his throat.

"And who might you be?"

Lincoln slowly turned around and stepped away. A woman in a red shirt and pants stood before him, her raven black hair being done up into a bun. She was wearing quite the wide variety of different rings on each finger, all with unique designs. Lincoln's then now cellphone was gripped firmly in her hand. The preteen had his mind racing in fifty different directions now, not one consistent thought in his brain.

"Wuh…uh…L…I-I'm…" Lincoln stuttered he had no clue what to do. He did not have much of a chance now. The two who had been in the other room now had emerged, a pair of quite dirty boys in black and white tattered suits. One was holding a hammer in their hand the other was carrying a brown leather briefcase.

"What's going on boss?!" the smaller man with the higher tone voice spoke. The trio had surrounded the boy by now. The terrified Lincoln stared up at them, panting for breath.

"You idiots were about as quiet as a cannon blasting a bell factory. Now a rat's heard the noise and snuck in," she retorted, aggravated. The three looked down at Lincoln who no longer could feel his legs, like his body refused to respond to his demands. His mind only had thoughts of his family, fear he would no longer be able to see them. He doubted these criminals would want a witness left alive for whatever they were doing.

"Pl…please… I'll leave. I won't do anything. Just let me go," Lincoln choked, his eyes closed tight as if pretending he could not see the issue would make it go away. He specialized in planning most of the time, but he was caught far too off guard in this situation.

"Hm… this might be a good thing," the woman spoke up, breaking the tense silence. Lincoln felt himself being pulled up off the floor, some dust being brushed off his shirt by her as if she was trying to apologize for terrifying him.

"This is just one big misunderstanding. My name is Nora. How about we talk and I'll explain everything," Nora introduced herself. Her two goons seemed to be quite relieved, neither wanting to imagine harming a poor child.

"Wait… what?" Lincoln chirped, finally beginning to calm down. He watched her as she went over and took a seat on the couch, kicking the coffee table out a little. Her two cronies stood idle, not wanting to get involved in the situation if their boss could handle it.

"I said let's talk. Did you think we were going to kill you or something?" Nora laughed. Even if it was just a joke, Lincoln felt less reassured than before somehow. He felt he might be in a slightly worse situation somehow. He had three options; one being that he could try and grab his phone and run, hoping to dodge the trio long enough to call for police or anyone that could help. Alternatively, Lincoln considered letting them keep his phone so he had the chance to leg it out the front door. But then the third option sounded the best. Talking, because he could tell the two questionably dressed men were on guard to not allow escaping now.

"So… what's going on?" Lincoln broke the silence while taking a seat on the same couch as Nora, a good two seats away from her. None of these three settled well with him at all. The older woman rested his cellphone nearby.

"We broke into here because it was the furthest closest for sale home I could find, though we aren't here because we're petty thieves, I assure you," Nora claimed with that smile to try and keep the reassurance up. She pointed a thumb to her goon with the briefcase. That goon was stunned at the sudden movement and approached with the luggage in hand. Lincoln was not taking his eyes off either, the plan of running for it still screaming in the back of his head, his brain trying to demand him to do it.

"Wh-why did you break in then? …I-I knew the last owner," Lincoln claimed, fearful that one wrong question would bring the hammer to the side of his skull, and he would be somewhere unknown, most likely with that briefcase.

"Well… as pathetic as it sounds, I'm trying to hide my money from my greedy ex… they want every last drop of cash they can get. I'd be better off burning it if I could do that," Nora explained. A divorce gone array per usual, her former significant other had won in the trial and was going to ride it out for every penny they could squeeze out.

"Uhh… I'm sorry to hear that?" Lincoln apologized unsurely. He felt like something still was off. Nora had her personal aid bring over the briefcase and rest it on the coffee table.

"I have a comfortable position of ownership over my company. To be blunt, it might be a great thing you showed up. I know you don't have any reason to stay quiet. That's why I think it would be best that this accidental meeting can be forgotten," Nora finished. Lincoln wondered what she meant before the briefcase had the locks on it removed, and was open. Lincoln saw stack after stack of money inside it.

"Wha-wait… are you bribing me?" Lincoln could only ask. Everyone in the room laughed a little at how straight forward he was on it. Nora placed a hand on his head, her eyes staring into his. All he could see in her eyes was his own reflection, as if they were completely hollow. For sure, Nora's face scared him since he first glanced at it.

"Money can do a lot of things, mister…?" she realized she hadn't caught his name yet.

"Lin-Lincoln."

"Right… as I was saying… money can do a lot of things. Open doors, make hard things easier, get you some nice connections… and most of all, make people happy. So how does this offer sound? If you take the entire briefcase and keep it hidden for me, I'll let you have 20% of the money within it," she explained the offer. Lincoln felt his ears burn a little.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Lincoln exclaimed. Something was off, but this offer sounded too good to be true, let alone to pass up as well. Lincoln could well use the money now that he saw it, as not only could he get Lori that gift he had in mind, but he might be able to actually get all of his family their gifts they deserved. He still owed all his sisters a lot after all, and it was the least he could do.

"You're right… I left one detail out. Obviously, my money is very tight. Now me letting you have a single dollar bill from this case is damaging to me… so here's the deal. I'll let you take the 20% from this case. If you hide the rest of the case for me until I come to retrieve it, and if you become a worker for me to repay this, I'll let you have another 5%," Nora explained further, as if she was trying to change this bribery attempt into a trade, increasing the amount he would receive to add on. "Think of it as a loan for silent hiring of sorts."

Lincoln had his mind racing on this decision to take the money to be quiet, and get a job that would give him something to do for summer to work off the debt. The best of the decisions he was really lacking right now.

"Alright… well, um… how much is in this?" Lincoln wondered. The briefcase got closed and shoved into his chest. He coughed, taking it. For some reason, he felt dirty now. That might be the guilt or something else covering it. Either way, he thought with the money he could get his ten sisters the gifts they deserved for tolerating him, but as he thought over it, he felt somehow disheartened.

"There's 10,000 dollars in the case," Nora stated, "As of now, 2,500 of it is yours."

"W-whoa!" Lincoln stood up, his eyes were wide, and before he knew it, he had to sit back down from the sheer shock of the amount he was being given. Nora took one finger of hers and slid off one of her rings from her hand, and then passed it to the young boy.

"Consider this ring a sign of our contract. I'll be the one to contact you. Don't try to contact me and everyone will be fine…" Nora hummed. She stood up, beginning to walk away. Lincoln looked down at the ring, which had the shape of a spider, but the back body was a red ruby. He looked up to see the two men bow to him.

"Welcome to the family kid," one said.

"Congratulations. You got the once in a life time chance, to be set for life," the other added, before they both ran off to try and catch up to Nora. Lincoln could hear the sound of the vehicle outside speeding off with a loud screeching noise. The white haired boy looked down at the briefcase in his hands and got an unsure smile. Now he could repay his sisters with what they deserved. Lincoln suddenly noticed the drizzling sound of rain outside.

"I better get home," Lincoln kept the suitcase tight in his grip, running off to go get Charles from the tree he had left him tied up to outside. He was going to have to rush home if he wanted to escape the rain. Keeping this briefcase secret was going to be challenge, but he had put up with a lot of tasks before. Lincoln had a bright smile on his face now, feeling that despite the terrifying circumstances, he got a lottery break, and having a job for summer was not bad at all. He had put the spider ruby ring on his left hand, which he thought fit better. He had no idea how it represented their agreement, but he did not question it. He was excited to get his sisters their gifts once he planned everything out, after hiding the briefcase when he returned home.

"This is going to be great!"


	3. Web Of Lies

**Authors Note: I am happy, with all support I have received for my first story. I will do my best to keep it going, for you all. :)**

It had probably been over an hour now since the storm had begun. Lincoln was not able to run anymore, having burnt all his energy getting as far away from that house as he could, the briefcase being carried in his left hand also weighing him down slightly. The spider ruby ring stayed worn on his left ring hand. Charles walked alongside him, seeming uncaring about the rain as much as he was glad his owner was safe. Finally their home came into the view of the distance. Lincoln was more than glad to pick up the pace, despite his body lacking the energy to do much else.

"Haah… finally… whew," Lincoln panted, trying to gain his breath. Once they reached the front porch, he grabbed the doorknob and opened it, heading inside with his dog. Once inside, he unhooked the leash from Charles collar, and instantly he saw his beloved pet begin rolling around on the carpet, trying to dry off.

"Lincoln! There you are! I was about to come looking for you," Lincoln heard, looking up to see Lori emerge from the kitchen with the car keys. She was relieved to see her younger brother alright.

"He-hey, Lori. Sorry, Charles's collar fell off and I had to chase him down," Lincoln apologized, coming up with the first lie in mind. He hated lying to his family, but he really was lacking in choices here. Lori quirked an eyebrow confusedly. It sounded abnormal for their dog, he was normally calm and tame. She tried not to think too hard on it, resting the keys down nearby.

"Look, just go get a towel and dry off. You look like you dove into a lake," the older blonde teenager ordered. Lincoln could not disagree with that statement. He was soaked from head to toe from the showers of rain. When he grabbed the briefcase and tried to walk past her, she grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

"Also, why're you carrying a briefcase around?" Lori questioned. Lincoln had to keep as calm as he could. Trying to lie to his sisters was hard since most of them could normally read him like a book.

"It's… to hide the gift I got," Lincoln answered, keeping his grip tight on the handle. Lori wondered if that was where he was the last hour instead of walking their pet. She let go of her brother.

"Alright… but next time, please just ask and I'll give you a ride to the store," the older sister implored him to simply ask for rides. She would gladly provide them. Lori presumed he had been to the store to get the briefcase and said present to hide it in. She was currently the only sibling in the Loud house with a driver's license, so everyone tended to request rides from her anyway. Lincoln hated seeing her so worried that something may have happened to him when walking the dog, a simple task as it was, seemed to be taking too long.

"Thanks Lori," Lincoln gave her a quick tight hug before he went back to get upstairs to his room, letting Charles stay downstairs to continue drying himself off. Lincoln grabbed a towel lying on the floor to the hallway, seeing that someone else was in the bathroom. He doubted he was getting in, or at least by the time he did, he would have dried off. Having only one bathroom in a house with so many had too many disadvantages to list.

"Is this really smart of me…?" Lincoln wondered to himself. He could just hide the money, not take a single dime and return the ring to Nora whenever she got in contact with him, but how would she get a hold of him, he wondered. It was not like she had his cellphone number. A moment later, his attention was brought back when he saw a present on his bed.

"Huh… wonder who it's from?" Lincoln smiled, resting the briefcase down beside the bed. He had a few hiding spots in mind for it, but he would handle that in a minute. He picked up the present before taking off the lid to it. Inside he saw a small case with a CD disc in it and a note on the back, which he turned it over to read.

"To the best little bro. Keep rockin' on!"

Lincoln could take a safe bet that it was from Luna. He closed his bedroom door before going over to the DVD player on his television, opening it and putting the disc inside, then hitting play and turning on the TV. Lincoln presumed it was going to be an early copy of an album his sister was trying to make. He was just expecting music as he went and grabbed the briefcase and went to his closet that was somewhat stuffed.

"Well, guess this is the best way to hide something," Lincoln thought with a smirk, "How else do you perfectly hide things? Pretend they're junk and hide them amongst more junk."

Before he could begin preparing a dig out spot for the briefcase to be buried under, so that no one would find it, he heard his own voice perk to his ears from the television.

"Come on, Luna, I can't pull the look off."

Lincoln backed away from the closet, leaving the briefcase there in front of it, before going back to the television with a raised eyebrow. He recognized the scene before him all too well. What was recorded was a video of him wearing a lot of orange, yellow and red face paint in an effort to make a flame style effect. He also had been wearing a leather coat and black shirt, his hair being a lot more messier than usual.

"You kiddin', bro? You look metal enough to take on the world!" Luna chimed while stepping up to him and handing over an old looking electric guitar. She looked not much different, either. The Lincoln of the present sighed, having recalled the video camera she was setting up before she claimed it was for fun during the time the recording was made. Lincoln and Luna wound up home alone, so they decided to rock it up a lot. The rocker sibling always said he had a good voice for singing, but he himself never believed it. The young boy however started to fully recognize the scene on this tape.

"Come on show me how good you've gotten!" Luna insisted. Lincoln could remember this all too well. On the screen and viewable by the naked eye, the electric guitar cord connecting it to the amplifier was wrapped around his ankle. The young boy looked away from the recording, and he heard a few quick strings being played, and there was some screaming, followed by a loud crunch, and worse off, the sound of a dying electrical instrument.

"Lincoln? Are you okay?!" Luna's worried voice chimed, the camera showing her going over to her brother and trying to make sure he was not hurt.

"I-I… Luna, I-I'm sorry," Lincoln stopped the DVD there, opening it, pulling it out and putting it back in the case, putting it at the side of the DVD player. His rock loving sister had given him one of her three electric guitars, the favorite of them too, and when Lincoln tripped, he broke it in half. Luna knew it was an accident and held no grudge, but the guitar was not worth the cost of repairs. The CD the preteen had gotten was one he guessed had bloopers or his singing duets with Luna on it. Lincoln was grateful to Luna for having sent it, and he would have watched a lot more immediately if not for that guilty reminder striking his heart, he thought it was a good thing that his older sibling saw it as a funny moment, instead of a bad one.

"…alright, Nora… maybe it was more than just luck that we met," Lincoln spoke to the ring on his hand, looking down at it before rubbing his head, aware of what he was about to do. Lincoln would gladly work off the debt if it made up for his various mistakes. He long since stopped caring about it being a bribed job offer. He went on one knee and opened the briefcase. The money before him was unchanged, each one kept together with a thick rubber band.

"I'm doing this because I love my family. If I have to work to make them happy, then I'll work to the bone," Lincoln swore to himself, reaching in and taking out two of the stacks from the batch. They were all hundred dollar bills. He never in his life thought he would be holding this much money at once. Lincoln folded the bills up and pocketed them, his wallet lacking any space for both stacks. When he had gotten his 2500, the young boy closed the briefcase and stuffed it in the closet before closing his closet's door.

"This should help," Lincoln hummed, grabbing that book with the gold heart on it, keeping the string binding it closed together. He already knew what to get Lori and Luna, though he needed this book to help out a lot in getting his sisters the best gifts.

"You own a diary?"

Lincoln jumped in surprise, nearly toppling over as he turned around, exhaling in relief. Lucy, a smaller, eight year old sister, and the fifth youngest of the family, stood there in a black dress with black and white striped cloths covering on her arms that went from elbow to wrist, and matching long socks to fit. Her long dark hair covered her eyes just like she wanted it. Lucy had a habit of appearing out of nowhere, and no one knew or wanted to know how and why.

"Uh… it's not a diary, Luce. H-how come you didn't just knock?" Lincoln questioned. He would have gladly opened the door for her. Lucy was a gothic girl, her more preferred hobby being her poetry. She was as nice as the other sisters to him, but just a lot more of a straight face when it came to it. If anything, he had not noticed his door being opened and closed right behind his back, if that was how she entered.

"Where did you get the ring?" Lucy answered his question with her own. Lincoln looked down at the ruby spider ring he had been given. The more he viewed it, the more he felt it looked like a black widow, a very deadly genus of arachnid. The bucktoothed preteen was unsure how to reply, but he was happy to know she had not seen him not only pocketing wads of cash, but also stuffing a briefcase full of it away in hiding.

"From a cereal box," Lincoln used the first lie in his head. He was not good when put on the spot like this, but he was doing his best to work on that.

"The last cereal box was finished two days ago," Lucy blandly replied. Their parents had not gotten more yet either, to her knowledge, and that ring looked too good to be a prize for just eating halfway through a box of badly tasting cereal. Lincoln groaned, holding his head, caught and defused. The young boy wished he knew why everyone in his family was so good at interrogating him, though it might be his poor body language or even worse lies.

"Why, do you want one Luce?" Lincoln asked.

"Maybe. It looks cool," Lucy nodded. The ring actually looked quite fitting for her. She would at least like to know where she could acquire one from. The gothic girl normally would request help coming up with rhymes for her poems from him whenever she needed it. She was probably the quietest of the Loud family, but what noise she did not make, tended to be generated by her fellow family she scared.

"Uh… I'll tell you what. I was about to go ask mom and dad if they would help me to go get my present, but I'll see what I can scrounge up for you. That sound good?" Lincoln offered. He had to presume the ring he dawned was custom made and would draw eyes on him from all of his family. There was one thing he did notice immediately while nervously covering it with his other hand. He had made several attempts to remove it secretly during this conversation, and it was stuck. Not one inch did the ring move, as if his finger had fused with it. Before Lucy could answer, he chimed up again.

"I promise I'll find something for you… but please don't tell anyone," he pleaded from her. The younger sister paused, wondering what was making him act so weird, but she had one idea come to mind.

"You drew my name, didn't you?" Lucy chimed up past the ever growing odd atmosphere of this conversation. She had to presume he was trying to hide a surprise from her. A thought clicked in Lincoln's head as he crouched down to her height, putting on a calm face, feeling more relieved to think that he had it under control now, even if he had to lie that he was her gift bringer. Lincoln had no clue who drew his younger sibling's name, but they apparently had not gotten her gift yet.

"Yeah… pretend I didn't tell you that, but I promise I'll make sure my favorite little vampire is happy," Lincoln answered. Lucy seemed to gain a small smile herself. As odd as it sounded, becoming a vampire was something she always wanted to be when she grew up. Her older brother had started calling her his favorite little vampire the moment he found out years ago.

"Thank you," Lucy said, hugging him. Lincoln gladly wrapped an arm around her in return. The preteen stood up when the embrace ended.

"Think you can do me a favor, Lucy?" Lincoln requested.

"What is it?" the goth quirked. She would be glad to help out her brother if he needed it.

"Well… since you're good at that… appearing out of nowhere being quiet thing, do you think you can go take a certain guitar from Luna's room? There should be a few big pieces of a broken one inside a box in her closet," Lincoln explained. He remembered where the broken guitar was, because he had watched Luna put it away in her closet. There were a lot more small pieces from the guitar, too, but those went to the trash, and only the biggest few pieces were kept.

"I'll see what I can do," Lucy agreed only as a favor to repay him more than anything. The raven haired girl walked out of his room. Lincoln let out an audible exhale of relief.

"So this is what constant stress is like. Boy, mom and dad must have it rough," Lincoln rubbed his head.

"I got the parts," the voice of Lucy emerged again immediately. Lincoln jumped in surprise, accidentally falling and tumbling over the other side of his bed with a loud clattering and a thud. The young boy groaned after a few brief moments he pulled himself back up to peek his head out, seeing Lucy standing there with the parts to a purple electric guitar just like in the recording. The few parts were in a box, Lincoln was glad to see she had got them easily. And surprisingly fast as well.

"Wow, thanks a lot. How'd you do that so fast, Lucy?" Lincoln quirked taking the box from his younger sibling, these busted parts looked so sharp that the mere touch would give someone several splinters most likely

"I told her that I needed to borrow something to symbolize damaged rock music," Lucy plainly replied before leaving the room once more. Lincoln had a bright smile, going over and grabbing the book with the heart on the strand, keeping it closed. All of his sisters' most wanted items that weren't already crossed off were in that book. He went to go ask his parents if one of them could take him to a few locations. He had a lot in mind that he had to gather for his siblings, all with a bright smile still plastered on his face.

"I should thank Nora next time I see her."


	4. Unexpected surprise

Two days passed since Lincoln had crossed paths with Nora, and he still waited to hear from her with little clue what to expect, but really was hoping to just find a letter to him in the mailbox telling him where to take the briefcase, but he had taken 25%, so now he was in debt to being her worker. Whatever that meant, the young boy had little clue. He lay in his bed, snoring from how tired he had been.

Lincoln had stayed up until three in the morning last night, to make sure that his entire family was asleep. He had spent one day buying the gifts and getting them all prepared, or waiting for them to be prepared before he had to go pick them up the next day. Once he had gathered every gift for his sister, Lincoln snuck into each one's room during the night and left their presents nearby them. He fell asleep right after that, thankful that most of his sisters shared rooms. Otherwise that would have been a pain to have to sneak into ten variously cluttered rooms.

"OH MY GOSH!"

Lincoln jolted awake when he heard multiple voices simultaneously scream in shock.

"Wha? Did Charles mess up the laundry again?" Lincoln groaned, holding his head. He doubted that his dog had accidentally knocked over laundry, not unless half the house was working on it. He never had heard that many loud shouts over ruined cleaned pieces of cloth. Lincoln forced himself out of bed, still wearing his pyjamas and boxers.

"Everything alright?" Lincoln called out as he opened his door and stepped out of his room. He suddenly got hit in the side of the head by a soccer ball, making him stumble.

"Ow!" he groaned, rubbing his head. Either he got in the way of it at the worst time, or the one that kicked it expected a lot better reaction time from someone that had been awake not even five minutes.

"Sorry Lincoln, I'm just really excited and couldn't wait to practice," the preteen heard another sibling of his. Lynn, the fifth oldest of the Loud family, approached, wearing a red and white jersey with a '1' symbol on the front of it, and matching pajama bottoms, her auburn brown hair being done up into a small ponytail.

"Well… it was a nice kick," Lincoln lost his irritation pretty fast from seeing one of his siblings happy. Lynn was a lot more athletic than most of the family. If it could be turned into a sport, she would find a way to do it. And there was only a few sports she wouldn't play, though all that bursting energy had to be burnt out on something, and Lincoln had wound up being her practice opponent one too many times. Not that he minded, he just was not able to keep up with her since a lot of times she tended to be a little too competitive, but as long as she was happy he was fine with it.

"So what's got you so excited?" Lincoln already had a good clue why, he could hear some of his family downstairs already, presuming that Lynn was the last one to awaken right before him. His slightly older sister presented a pair of tickets to his face, Lincoln gaining a small smirk.

"My gifter gave me two presents! The soccer ball was in the first and that's nice, but these are special Rosetta tickets! I thought they were sold out!" Lynn excitedly explained. Lincoln just let her continue talking to fill him in on what she thought he had no clue about. In actuality, it was him who got her the two Rosetta tickets.

Every couple months, several famous sports groups would gather at a grand charity event they dubbed the Rosetta charity, in honor of the one who started the charity fund Virginio Rosetta. The groups that gathered would share a lot of news of their upcoming plans, before letting civilians chosen at random to play in mixed teams alongside and against other members of each group. Anyone could go to the fundraiser, but only those with Rosetta tickets could get to compete. Lincoln recognized the details, and knew Lynn would appreciate being given those.

"Well that's great, Lynn. Congratulations," Lincoln claimed. He recalled how the last few times the Rosetta charity fund had come through Royal Woods, Lynn had missed all her chances to get the tickets, mainly because people would swamp anywhere that was selling them, and they would all be gone in minutes, due to all the groups' popularity that would allow their merchandises to be sucked dry in sales.

"I just can't believe it. When I find out who got me these two tickets, they're coming with me to compete!" Lynn declared, picking up her soccer ball before hopping on the staircase railing and zipping off downstairs.

"I don't think I'd survive five seconds against many… let alone pros," Lincoln muttered. Not like anyone was meant to know who their gifters were. He could then hear the sound of an electric guitar echoing from an open doorway. He peeked his head in, that smile of his growing.

"Morning, Luna," he greeted his rock and roll loving sister. It was quite clear that she had found her present.

"Lincoln! Hey, check it out! My guitar's no longer trashed!" Luna showed that formerly broken guitar, which was now back to fully functional condition and looking almost brand new. Lincoln pretended to be surprised, hoping he could pass off any oddness from his reaction on his late night stay up.

"Really? Wow, your gifter must work fast," Lincoln laughed a little, though in his head, he recalled talking to the man about repairing the instrument. It was irritating because the instrument store owner that specialized in repairs, had tried to talk Lincoln out of wasting money on something that was not anywhere near the price it was worth to repair. After some persistence, he got the man to agree to fix it up to almost brand new shape, and expedited it by throwing another hundred in.

"Yeah. I think it was Lucy, but she said the pieces got taken from her room when she went to bed," Luna explained. She went straight to Lucy since she had the bits and pieces of the guitar last.

"Really? That's weird…" Lincoln played dumb. Sadly he was good at feigning ignorance. He would rather be a better liar than a better actor.

"Yeah… weirder is someone also got me that new album I've been eyeing. But hey, I won't complain about two gifts," Luna declared. Lincoln was glad to see her happy, but in one half a second blink, Luna had cranked her amp up to max.

"Let's hear ya howl again!" she struck the strings full force with the guitar pick. Lincoln got blasted out of the room by the giant blast of sound coming from the amps, landing on the hallway floor, partially deafer than he was when he first entered that room. With a high-pitch ringing torturing his eardrums, Lincoln calmly closed the door to his older sister's room. It did not help the noise much, but it was better than nothing.

"Lincoln, honey, can you come here?" Mrs. Loud called from downstairs.

"What?" Lincoln shouted back, trying to get over the constant high pitch ringing still in his head while being told this. He finally understood and made his way down. It seemed like some of his younger siblings had yet to come downstairs. Lincoln wished he had their heavy sleeping abilities, which they somehow were a lot more used to loud noises.

"Sorry mom, my hearing's a little messed up and… aww…" Lincoln stopped himself when he saw his younger sister, Lily, drinking a bottle of milk in her mother's arms, but also was wearing a new costume she had gotten, which was a grey chinchilla costume, complete with a fluffy tail and hood.

"You look adorable, Lily," Lincoln commented with a warm smile, poking her tummy, hearing his sister giggle in reply. She seemed to adore the chinchilla costume so much. Lincoln had gotten it for Lily as a surprise. He did not want her to be left out of the family name drawing gift trade after all, but since his baby sibling had no room of her own and instead just shared one primarily with their parents. Lincoln had opted into leaving the gift in his parent's room.

"I wanted to ask what gift you got," Mrs. Loud asked her son. So far everyone this morning was immensely happy, and it was nice for her to see.

"I got a family blooper CD," Lincoln replied. He needed to really watch that more. Now that he had repaired his sibling's guitar, he no longer had too much guilt from having broken it. The preteen was glad no one else had so far inquired about his ruby black widow ring. He had tried a lot of things to get it off, putting ice on his hand, using a mixture of soap and butter, even clamping the vice in the garage onto it and tried to just force it off, and even after all that together at once, sadly there was no luck.

"That's nice. It looks like everyone got each other two gifts," his mother commented, glad for her children all being happy and thinking of each other, "And it's nice that someone thought of Lily… I was going to get her a gift so she wouldn't feel left out, but someone got her this precious costume."

"Yeah… I- huh?" the preteen quirked an eyebrow when he suddenly felt someone hugging him, looking behind him to see Lucy. Aside from her PJ's, she now had a brand new necklace that had a very scary looking skull dangling from it.

"Heh… didn't want to scare me this time?" Lincoln joked while wrapping an arm around her, smiling. Lucy had not tried to scare him this time. Only reason she really got close to him unnoticed this time was due to his damaged hearing.

"Thanks for the present Lincoln… I love it," Lucy was very thankful for it. The jewelry was a lot more than she expected, but she could not be happier with it.

"Hey, I promised I'd make my favorite little vampire happy," Lincoln reminded, their embrace breaking. They noticed Lori come downstairs, with something square gripped tightly in her hand and a bright expression across her face.

"Mom! Mom! Look, I found this in one of my gifts!" Lori excitedly presented a weird looking flat phone, so slim that it looked like a steamroller had crushed it and yet it still worked fine.

"Oh it's a phone… that's nice," Mrs. Loud had no idea what made it special. She was just happy to see all her children in joyous states. Still, she had a lack of knowledge with technology to a severe degree.

"Oh, that's the mini square, isn't it?" Lincoln quirked, pretending he had seen an advertisement for it before on television months ago. He had heard his sister talk about how she wished she could get that new phone, but it was tremendously expensive.

"Yeah! It can do so much! Best of all is it can be folded up to take nearly no space!" Lori demonstrated. One button press and the phone folded in on itself a lot until it turned into a small square that was maybe the size of a big fingernail.

"Wow! That's awesome Lori!" Lincoln smiled. He was the one who had purchased it for her after all. However that was one of the most expensive of the items, having took away a thousand dollars alone. The only thing that rivaled that price was Luna's guitar which was not even at half the cost, nor was that fancy dress Lola had wanted. Even that weird tool that his younger sister Lisa wanted that Lincoln could not even pronounce the first part of. By the end of the gift shopping spree, Lincoln was left with only 300 of his 2,500 dollars.

"I have to call Bobby and let him know, this is the best day ever!" Lori excitedly hummed, referring to her boyfriend whom she was almost always on the phone with. Lincoln and Lucy had to step back as they noticed everyone else come downstairs to show their mother their gifts. Lincoln heard his mother laugh a little to herself. 'Loud is as loud does', a motto she knew about the family.

"Well Luce, wanna go get… Luce?" Lincoln saw no sign of Lucy again. He guessed she already was ahead of him on the idea of getting breakfast, especially when seeing nearly all of his sisters excited. All he could do is just watch and smile, though the preteen wondered where his father was thinking. He might just be back at work early.

"Girls, girls. Breathing room please," Mrs. Loud requested, which then got a few more inches of space for her and Lily, the infant giggling at the circus show in the house. Lincoln heard the front door bell go off, a sound that made everything stop in an instant.

"I'll get it," Lincoln reassured, right beside the door. He opened it up with a bright smile on his face, which however faded faster than a bonfire in a rainstorm when he saw a Royal Woods authority badge being shown. The person holding it was all too familiar; the ruby animal style rings, the fancy getup and that empty look in their eyes.

"N-Nora?!" Lincoln's internal system screamed. Sweat beaded across his forehead while he did his best not to speak her name. Why she would make herself known to his family was unknown. Lincoln had wanted to keep everything that happened secret after all, and what she said made the silence turn into soundly surprise and concern.

 **"Good morning, I'm from child protective services..."**


	5. A Day Away

The rarest of moments had struck the loud house when everything had fallen quiet, almost like the day had been completely paused, all because of one scary woman. Lincoln stood nearby, his now broken mind trying to put things together, but he was terrified, wondering if she had set him up somehow. He had no clue that the older woman was a worker for Child Protective Services, and yet he knew how bad the services were, where they tended to have a reputation for setting children up in even worse homes than they were in.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Mrs Loud offered. Nora sat on the chair with her hands on her knees, that face not changing much. Luna held Lily who was still in her costume in her arms, standing with the other sisters, unsure what to do. They wanted to leave to try and take tension out of the situation, but this might involve them, which was the most horrific thing in their heads now.

"Mrs Loud, I appreciate you trying to make me welcome in your home, but frankly I am here on a job, so I'd like it if we can bypass the formalities and get straight to the point," Nora replied in a more serious tone. Her lifeless eyes occasionally glanced at Lincoln. As if he was not already a nervous enough wreck, that occasional empty look from her worsened matters.

"Alright… so what can we do for you?" Mrs Loud took her seat on the couch across from the Child Protective Services worker. She would be saddened if one of their neighbors had been having family issues so bad that CPS were called.

"For starters, let me explain why I'm here…" the woman pulled out her phone. Her tons of rings showed, depicting animals with rubies in various spots. Information was written on the phone it appeared to be how she kept documentation. Lincoln mentally screamed for her to leave and not inform his family of all the money he had taken as a sort of bribe and work agreement.

"We received three anonymous tips that a young boy of the age of twelve was being heavily abused. One report said the father was an alcoholic with bad anger issues. Another report claimed he was being emotionally damaged by his family, and the last report insisted that your child there has been seen several times eating out of trash cans like some sort of street rat," Nora read it out fully. Lincoln began to calm down somewhat from hearing that, because none of it was true. That calm was interrupted before he or his mother could speak up.

"WHAT?!" Lori shouted, outraged by these wild accusations, "Us, abusing Lincoln?! No way!"

"We wouldn't hurt Lincoln on purpose! We love him!" Lynn added, not much better than her older sister right now but able to hide it better.

"And I don't think there's much good to eat from a trash can," the second eldest sibling spoke up, fixing her pair of white sunglasses on her head. Leni wanted to back Lincoln up, the same way he would do his best to help her when needed for whatever issue she had, but she was about as bright as an eighty year old light bulb. The gift Lincoln had got her was a rare DVD about fashion design called The Anatomy of Fashion, and she seemed happy from the gift.

"Children, please calm down. I'm sorry, they are very protective of their brother, and my husband's not going to return from work until this afternoon," Mrs Loud apologized. Nora grabbed the pair of spectacles from her face and lowered them down, before putting them in her shirt pocket and clearing her throat. Lincoln had a bad feeling, but was glad to know his loved ones would stand up for him.

"Mrs Loud, I'm going to tell you what I've repeated a hundred times to co-workers and friends. An alcoholic can hide their problems the accused can easily deny, and anything can be hidden with the right amount of work, so for all I care, I could be standing in a room full of people I barely want to tolerate, because they might be constantly lying, and I am going to receive a lot of irritation just for doing my job, especially from children," Nora spoke. Nerves across the entire Loud family were struck, all except for Lincoln.

"Something isn't right…" Lincoln thought. Nora sounded hostile, ready to fight off anyone who challenged her, but he couldn't feel any general real anger coming from her. Maybe he was just missing something, but that was the kind of aura vibe he got from Nora.

"So, Mrs Loud… I'd like to talk with your son alone… and please do me a favor and prevent eaves dropping," Nora requested. Mrs Loud sighed, aware that doing anything other than cooperate with Child Protective Services would do nothing. How not just one, but three people made a false report was even more upsetting.

"Alright… girls, upstairs and to your rooms. I'll tell you when to come out," Mrs Loud ordered. The ten sisters did not want to go anywhere, but the hope that things would be sorted out relatively easily was the only reason to back down. They agreed, and after a few minutes the living room was cleared out, leaving only Lincoln and Nora. The boy took his seat, staring at her while she silently laughed and adjusted her glasses back on her face.

"Pleasure to meet you again, Mr Loud," the woman in red commented,

"Wish I could say the same… what made you come here, Nora?" Lincoln replied quietly. He just wanted his family to be happy and for their day to go perfectly, especially after he had worked so hard to get them all their gifts.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nora replied while leaning back in her chair. It seemed that Lincoln was right, she lost that act of anger fast. She had put the act on in the first place to look like an overly emotional CPS worker.

"The briefcase? It's fine, but…" Lincoln stammered off. The older woman sighed, rolling her eyes. She could not only tell that he had hid it in a place that only he could find it, but that he did not want anyone else to see him carrying a briefcase to a Child Services Worker. It would look shady, especially when she started checking the money to make sure he only took his share and no more.

"I'll handle this. Go get the briefcase," Nora told him. Lincoln nodded, and the two went upstairs, the white haired boy going for his room.

"Mrs Loud!" the woman called out, seeing the mother of the family come out from her room, having done as she was ordered to let the two talk privately.

"Is everything alright?" Mrs Loud requested to know, more worried that her son might be getting bullied again, and now those bullies might have escalated to filing false reports to cause havoc at home.

"Yes and no. The good news is that I see no signs of mental or physical trauma with your son. The bad news, I am required to bring him back to the confines of our business overnight for a professional psychologist to see him," Nora explained, her rings clacking as she tapped her fingers, as if to mimic the sound of a clocks ticking, somehow it made each moment feel even longer.

"What?! Please, you said it yourself, he's unharmed," Mrs Loud reminded. Nora gazed at her with those hollow eyes again before adjusting her glasses.

"It is a requirement from me, and the only reason to take him overnight is so he can see the psychologist immediately in the morning. That way I can get him back home sooner, Mrs Loud," she elaborated, making it out to be that she was doing the mother a favor by taking him now for a short time, instead of letting this investigation drag on for a lot longer from other workers.

"Alright, well… can his sisters at least tell him goodbye?" Mrs Loud requested, not wanting to be the one to explain everything or keep anything hidden from her family, especially considering how much they loved their brother.

"Of course. I told Lincoln to pack the things he'd need for tonight," Nora nodded, allowing this.

Lincoln had finally gotten the briefcase out from its hiding spot in the mess of a closet in his room. The preteen stepped out of his room carefully, though he then noticed his family in the hall, looking to have nearly surrounded Nora. Lincoln could not tell what was scarier, his upset family around this woman or Nora's almost uncaring demeanor like she had been in this situation a million times.

"Wha-what's happening?" Lincoln approached, only to be pulled into one tight hug by nearly all of his sisters.

"Lincoln, you'll be back right?" he heard, looking down to see Lola and Lana hugging onto one of his legs each. The twins were very close with their brother, with how often he played with them. Lincoln rubbed their heads trying to calm them down and stop them from breaking into deep sorrow.

"I'm not going anywhere, don't worry," Lincoln reassured. He had no clue what Nora had told them, but he was in debt and it was to make them all happy. He would stand by his decision that it was worth it to him and the happiness of his family, and was going to do his best to make sure they never knew about this transaction.

"Call us later, alright?" Lori told him, handing over her new phone number to him on a piece of paper.

"I will… or I'll try," Lincoln nodded. After another dozen hugs and goodbyes, as well as a few tears, the preteen had finally gotten out of his home, following behind Nora.

"My, you really are a tight knit family," the multi-ringed woman commented. The two were approached a red sports car parked at the front of the home.

"We'd be tighter if you didn't actively interrupt our lives. Everyone was happy today with the presents I got them, and then you happen-" Lincoln felt a hand get placed on his mouth. The sports cars top was down and looked like it would get a lot of speed after a few seconds. Nora took her hand away.

"What was that for?" Lincoln had a raised eyebrow, wondering why she had silenced him.

"Because your family gave me a headache, and you are not helping it," she explained while getting in the driver's seat. Her young associate gave up on arguing now, putting the briefcase full of money in the backseat before he climbed into the passenger seat and put his seat belt on the car, backing out of the driveway and beginning to head away from the Loud house.

The drive was long and quiet. Lincoln was a little disappointed that he may not see his family for the rest of today, or until tomorrow. He still was afraid that he had been set up by Nora. In his saddened state though, he felt the car come to a stop.

"Wait, why did we stop?" Lincoln questioned. He watched Nora reach behind her head and undo her bun, letting her raven black hair free fall down to her shoulders.

"Tossing away no longer needed items," Nora answered, reaching up and taking her glasses off her face, tossing them in the glove compartment. Lincoln watched as she then pulled out the Royal Woods official badge and threw it out of the car, letting it land on the sidewalk nearby.

"Hey, why are you chucking your badge?" Lincoln questioned. Nora looked nearly completely different, a lot better without the glasses for some reason, but he was not sure why she had thrown away that badge. The car resumed driving from there.

"You didn't figure it out by now? I don't work for Child Protective Services," Nora explained, "I thought you were smarter than that, remember when we first met? I told you that I had a comfortable position as owner of my company… though the two gentlemen with me are no longer employees."

"WHAT?!" Lincoln stared, his mouth hung agape, "You lied to my family?! You made my mom and my sisters cry, and made them worry that they'll never see me again! What is wrong wit-"

A hard smack flew across his face. His widened eye still stared at her.

"I'm a woman constantly working hard and for an employee of mine, you don't need to respect me, but remember who helped you get your family their gifts in the first place," Nora reached over and grabbing him by his cheeks and making sure he stared dead on into her eyes to see his, he was the one who had told her about what he had spent his money on earlier, so she was fully aware now.

"I don't care about you disrespecting me, but you should care very much about if I respect you, Mister Lincoln. I treat every employee equally because the work is dangerous. I've helped save, ruin and repair lives. So if you plan on insulting me… do it like the rest of my employees, behind my back."

Lincoln gulped in terror. He swore to become her worker when he took that money, and the ring stuck to his finger added onto that. She let go of his face and returned her focus on the road.

"S-so… where are we going?"

"To our primary facility, so you can get acquainted with your co-workers."


	6. Workplace Rules

It had been a somewhat long drive deeper into Royal Woods. Lincoln had not really been to this part of town before mainly because it was very shady. No one really had a firm grasp on everything going on in this part of town but the many businesses there, but none were meant for tourists. They all drew a lot of people day and night no matter what the scenario. This questionable area within Royal Woods was odd like that, but Lincoln wondered if this was where he was going to work. After a short few more minutes the sports car began to come to a halt.

"Whoa…" Lincoln muttered at the sight of a mansion-sized building in the heart of this district. A few cars were around in the parking lot, and a number of guards stood outside the front gate, belonging to more various-aged workers.

"Welcome to my business and your new job. I'll discuss things further with you in my office," Nora stated as the two approached the gate. The two guards beside the sets of bars seemed surprised to see their boss, both opening the gate for them.

"They're getting younger each day…" One guard muttered to the other about Lincoln, who was not sure what that meant while his feet tapped each time they touched the ground. Lincoln could see Nora holding the briefcase in her hand not wanting to lose any more money, it appeared.

"This is a nice place…" Lincoln commented. He saw a water fountain setup in the center that was surrounded by flowers of all sorts welcomed the two. Anytime they passed somebody, Lincoln could sense that he was being watched by a lot more than just one individual, each one looking at him with pity or remorse. It was the type of look that a family would give after a distant member would have received a horrible diagnosis, or have passed on.

"I'm glad you think so, Mr Loud. A lot of our employees spend their time here, and or sleep here as well. My office is not far, but do mind your manners," Nora ordered. The preteen nodded, but when they entered into the building, he noticed the dimmed lights and the tons of people in a variety of colored tuxedos, doing various tasks.

"What's with all the suits? Is there a dress up party going on?" Lincoln asked, just as he saw and entered his boss's office up ahead, taking notice of the odd medieval layout of the room, including a fake suit and armor with a spear standing nearby. Behind the desk were several sets of various sizes fencing blades though he could not tell if they were real or not.

"This uniform is mandatory. Plus we'll have yours made within the next hour or so," Nora explained as she went behind her desk and took a seat. Lincoln presumed she wanted to talk to him. Otherwise she would not have brought him to her office. Why she could not just discuss this with him during the long quiet car ride was unknown. He sat down in the chair before of her, the tension he felt was worse than anytime the school principle had stared him down.

"Oh… uh, alright, I guess, but I don't look too good in a suit," Lincoln replied. Not like he was in any condition to argue. At the rate his stress was building, he would need someone to confide with. He had one person in mind, someone else he loved outside of his family, but he decided to only do that if things got really bad.

Lincoln soon witnessed Nora pull out a square bottle from her desk and a small glass. She had poured as much as she could into the tiny glass before tossing it back.

"Are you okay…?" He chirped hesitantly.

"Ahhem," Nora coughed, rubbing her head, "Yes, there just comes a point where you do anything to survive in life, and this is the thing keeping me alive. Do you want some?"

"Uh… no thanks," Lincoln turned her offer down. He would have made a remark about how he was underage, but she probably was well aware of that by now, that and he was interrupted with a hard smack to his face when he tried to confront her an hour or two ago.

"So can I ask you about the rings? I can't take mine off. I think my finger is too big for it," Lincoln requested an explanation for this, looking down at his left ring finger, seeing the black widow ruby on it. That ring looked more like a perfect fit for his situation. It was almost humorously ironic.

"No. The metal the band of the ring is made out of, is made of a special material which shrinks to fit the wearer. Those rings are very important. The more rings you have, the more respect you have gotten from me, but it will also show that others should respect you," Nora explained to him what it meant with the rings, which also explained the dozens upon dozens she wore on her ten fingers.

"You aren't able to remove it though," the woman in red added. The then confused young boy quirked an eyebrow, his head tilting slightly.

"I can't? But you took one off your own hand to give me it," Lincoln reminded her. Just then, he noticed that Nora's eyes no longer had that hollow look in them. They actually looked somewhat normal, though now they only showed the eyes of a person with a heavy burden, whether it be the alcohol in her system or just her own emotions. The look in her eyes returned to their hollow form fast.

"Yes. I had gotten that ring the very day we met. But once twenty-four hours pass, the ring is stuck to your flesh, and since the material is too tough to cut with a saw, there only is one way to remove it. And let me just tell you now Lincoln, if you fail horribly, you lose a ring… and our doctors do love using their electric bone saw," Nora warned him. Lincoln felt his heart skip a beat, the mere thought of losing his fingers from being a simple failure of whatever this job was concerned him immensely. As if Lincoln did not have enough reasons to be afraid of this place, more just keep popping up to threaten his very soul.

"You lose all the rings you have, you lose the job…And worse. Just let me just say, you always want to do a great job to get more rings," Nora hummed. Lincoln did not know how to feel about this now. He knew this ring was going nowhere. If any of his family asked, the young boy would have to come up with a clever lie about it being a sick accident.

"So what is my job, Nora- I mean boss?" Lincoln caught himself, having taken upon the assumption to begin referring to her by boss. A small smile showed from her that he at least had done that much correctly.

"Before anything, you need your uniform, but before that, you need to be examined by our medical team downstairs. It is just mandatory to do that. Though if you really must know, your job is going to change quite often here, practically on a daily basis," Nora told him before stretching and getting up. She walked to her fake suit of armor looking it over as if it reminded her of some odd memory from the past.

"Examined? Uhh… I mean I guess it has been a while since my last check-up, but…"

"If you're worried about insurance coverage, our medical plan covers you fully. I know you want this to stay hidden from your family," Nora sighed, aware that he was not the first, nor would be the last worker she had working for her that would be in this position.

"Right… thanks," Lincoln got up and went for the door since he wanted to go get this medical exam out of the way. He hoped there were actual doctors and not just random people assigned for the medical role. He went straight for the stairwell, leaving the room, the door closing with a loud echo behind him.

"At times like this, I wish I could say I enjoy my job…" she muttered before going back to her desk.

Lincoln had spent the next two hours in another part of the building, which was the medical department. The large room around him had multiple medical beds with a few different people occupying them. However most of them seemed to just be using them as beds to sleep.

"So… what all are you testing me for?" Lincoln questioned. The doctor, Jeffrey, who seemed to be a middle aged African American man with short hair, looked over a chart. The white haired boy was relieved when he saw several documents on the wall showing eight years of medical school, on top of four years of college. The doctor seemed to be doing a lot more than required testing.

"Well I'm concerned about your white blood count being so high… Now look, I don't want you to worry, because this could be nothing, but it also could be something…" the doctor pulled out a piece of paper from the folder he held and handed it over. Lincoln began viewing it, but he really had no clue how to tell what any of this meant.

"A high white blood count for an average adult is 11,000… but yours, Mister Loud, is at 15,000, and the fact that you have no fever is more concerning," Jeffrey told him, then taking the paper and putting it back in the folder. He went over to his desk and grabbed a key from it, taking it to a nearby cabinet full of medicines that he began to rummage through once unlocked.

"Wha… what could it be?" Lincoln nervously asked. What else could go wrong today, he wondered.

"Well it could mean anything… You could have a parasitic infection, a fungal infection, a lot more things are plausible… but right now, as difficult as it is to say… I'm more worried about cancer," Jeffrey got straight to the main worry for his diagnosis.

"No way…" Lincoln's heart sank to his stomach. It was not certain that he might be getting cancer, but the thought of actually getting it, petrified him. Jeffrey pulled a bottle of medicine out of the cabinet and handed it to the steadily distraught twelve-year-old.

"These will help fight off either of the two infections if you have them, I want you to come back later and if your white blood count has not lowered, we'll begin more advanced testing. Otherwise you have a clean bill of health and are good to begin working," the doctor said before patting the preteen's back.

"Don't get worked up over something that could be nothing. I'll do my best to get you back to tip top shape before your birthday," Jeffrey told him. Lincoln tried to keep calm as he took one of the somewhat big sized pills, as he was instructed before pocketing the bottle. It was all just another thing on the list to hide from his family. He rubbed his eye a little, when suddenly something crossed his mind.

"Wait… how do you know when my birthday is?" Lincoln questioned. He had not mentioned that to Nora or in fact anybody lately. The doctor waved the file once again.

"Nora does research on all new workers and gets as much info as available. I don't agree with it, but she's helped to save a lot of lives doing that too," Jeffrey explained. Nora had ties with several different law enforcement workers, and had the ability to get her paws on any information of any person she wanted freely. Lincoln did not care to complain anymore and just accepted this. He went for the door, now starting his next task to go get his uniform, and then he could start his first job.

"Time to get to work…"


	7. First Job

"I feel unsure about this…" Lincoln murmured from behind the doorway of a changing room. Outside sat another worker of Nora's in front of a sewing machine, trying to repair it after something within had broken.

"Nora is the one who picked the color, but I'm sure you'll be fine," he replied. After another brief moment, Lincoln stepped out, his shoes clacking against the hard wooded floor. He brushed his white hair aside a little, thinking he might be in need of a haircut. The preteen looked at himself in the nearby mirror, checking his light-orange colored suit that was on loosely, and the white shirt underneath.

"Yeah, orange is one of my favorite colors, but… I don't know how I feel wearing this much of it," Lincoln confessed. He did not think orange looked best on a suit, but if that was to be his uniform, then that was just what he was going to have to accept, since the one who made it ignored his complaint.

"Nora dropped this off for you while you were changing," the co-worker presented a flimsy and questionable contract. Lincoln took it and began reading it, thinking he should be thankful to be getting information now.

"So my first job is… working at Sebastio's? The fancy restaurant?" Lincoln questioned. Sebastio's was a high class restaurant that was approx fifteen miles from where he was. He never had been there himself, but had heard a lot about it from the rich kids in school, mostly that they liked to brag about how they ate only five star food and burnt money like it was firewood.

"Yep, that's the one. They need an extra pair of hands, so go handle it. Pay comes after the job's done and how much ya get is how good ya do," he added. Lincoln could understand what the job was now. It appeared that the job this company ran was a temporary employee replacement gig. Lincoln could be paid three times as much that the current worker that was being replaced, all under the table of course. Lincoln learnt this when Nora had informed him his job would change on a daily basis, and it seemed the restaurant only needed him until twelve tonight.

"Alright. Thanks again for the suit," Lincoln thanked the older man who ignored him, the young boy pocketing the piece of paper, having to get going if he wanted to make it there on time to start working for whatever position he had to fill. The white haired preteen began to hurry along to try and get to his first job, wanting to hopefully use this chance to impress Nora on his first day, though the young boy hoped that 2,500 was an easy amount to pay off. He just wondered what his sisters were up to right now.

"His room was already pretty clean. You really think we needed to do this?" chimed the bucktoothed and braced fourth oldest of the Loud sisters, Luan, her light brown hair being done up into a ponytail behind her head while wearing her usual white shirt and plaid skirt. She was the most comedic of the family who rarely could get put down. Lincoln being taken away by what they were told was Child Protective Services proved to be able to cause the rarity to occur.

"I thought we may as well do a favor for him," Lori stated, not really up to talking to her boyfriend for the moment. For the time being, it was just Lori, Luan and Lucy at home alone. Everyone else had gone out to try and take their minds off this. After all, their brother was going to be back tomorrow. The only reason the three of them had not gone out with the family was for varying reasons. Lucy just was not in the mood to go out, Lori was tired and Luan did not want to fight for a spot in the van.

"And take that whoopee cushion out from under his pillow," the blonde sister added. Luan could not help but smile a little, being caught that easy when she normally was able to hide that sort of thing without any notice. She did as ordered, tossing the air filled item aside where it made a light squeak on landing.

"Sorry, I got tons of comedic tools and props in my gift… I gotta use'em somewhere," Luan apologized. Her first gift had contained a book on how to master prank setups, but the second gift Lincoln had gotten her were tons of supplies that were in new condition, which he was inspired to do after he had heard the aspiring comedian complain that all her props were wearing out due to age. Since Lincoln hid his secret well, she believed that whoever gave her the second gift was the same person who sent her the first.

"Guess mom and dad were right with this surprise gift trade stuff. Everyone was really generous about it," Lori commented while straightening out the blanket on the bed, placing it half over the pillow at the head of the bed. Luan nodded it was really surprising how it seemed no one had set themselves a limit on how much to spend, and each gift felt like it had a lot of thought put into it.

"Yeah! You did great picking that little costume out for Lily! It looks so adorable on her!" Luan complimented her, Lori quirked an eyebrow.

"'scuse me, but… I didn't get her that," the blonde woman replied. She could not deny at least that Lily became very adorable in that chinchilla costume.

"Really…? Huh," Luan scratched her head confusedly, her expression showing the gears turning in her head, trying to think of who got that.

"Why do you ask anyway?" Lori requested.

"It just seemed like something you'd pick," Luan shrugged. Her older sister was curious who got it as well, but she knew whoever got it either had to announce they were the gifter or keep quiet. Either way it was no harm to anyone. Lori had went to grab the trash out of the small trash can in their younger brother's room, but then something caught her eye. On top of the various pieces of junk was a small piece of paper. She picked it up.

"Lori?" she read out her name from the paper, quirking an eyebrow, "Wait… this is one of the names from the hat drawing… and it's mine?"

"Really? I guess Lincoln should've DRAWN faster," Luan joked. Then came her older sister's disapproving groan and a hand on her own forehead.

"So… Lincoln was my gifter?" Lori asked in disbelief, looking down at her new cube phone, the one that had been worth nearly a thousand dollars. Lori had no idea how to feel about this now. She was enthralled to know her younger brother was the one to get her this gift, but guilt was then injected into her, because he had most likely burnt a fortune on it.

"He told me he was my gifter," Lucy chimed, scaring Luan and Lori so bad that the two wound up with their arms wrapped around one another in the moment of terror.

"Wait, he did? But I was your gifter… I got you that book on goth poetry," Luan claimed after the moment of terror had passed. Lucy kept that plain face. The book on poetry had been her first gift, but she was a lot happier with the skull on a necklace. This was becoming steadily confusing. Lori decided to tell them who she had gotten a gift for.

"I drew Luna's name from the hat. I got her that flaming moth album she had been wanting for months," the blonde girl admitted. The three siblings exchanged looks to each other, all thinking the same thing, that Lincoln had been the one to get the guitar repaired. Lucy did not mind explaining that he had requested her to retrieve the broken parts from her sisters, but she had no idea about how much money their brother seemed to have spent on such a treasure trove of items.

"Do you think all the second presents everyone got… were from Lincoln?" Lori finally reached a conclusion after several minutes of talking. Cleaning the room had fallen off, after they had begun having this conversation.

"He must really have wanted to PRESENT them to us," Luan snickered to some more irritated groans.

"I kind of feel bad now," Lori commented, pulling out and opening her new phone.

"Why now?" Lucy asked.

"Because if Lincoln did get us all one gift… it means he spent thousands on us," Lori explained. Luan did not have that thought cross her mind, but now imagining literally every last dime of her little brother's savings or cash being burnt on them was depressing, as sweet as it sounded. She watched Lori hit call for Lincoln in contacts, hoping for him to answer so they could hear how he was doing. The sisters all missed him a lot and were worried, much like the whole family was. So talking to him would be a nice reminder for them that everything was going to be fine. The cellphone rang, and all Lori got was a voice mail.

"Hey, this is Lincoln Loud. Leave a message at the beep. *BEEP*"

"Uh, hey, Lincoln. We just wanted call to check up on you, we love you, and we miss you a lot… please call back soon," Lori requested, before closing her phone. Solemn silence fell in the room. Luan and Lucy seemed depressed to be reminded of how their brother was away with Child Protective Services for tonight, and maybe part of tomorrow.

"Come on. We should finish cleaning his room," Luan insisted that they were still here for a reason, and there still was some cleaning left to be done. Lucy nodded, agreeing to help. Lori smiled, glad that the two were here when she needed them. The three got back to work, but with the worry for their brother still in their minds.

"Please be alright, Lincoln…"


	8. Culinary Work

Lincoln had arrived to the restaurant Sebastio's not so long ago. The fancy restaurant had lived up to the five star rating, maybe even six stars, it had a high class fine dining promise and did not disappoint. From the marble floors, to the red carpet at the entrance that made all their customers feel like popular celebrities. They needed every worker available, because it appeared the restaurant was always packed to the brim with hungry patrons with no hesitation, no matter what time of day.

"Man… worst time for a phone call…" Lincoln commented. His cellphone was ringing in his pocket. He recognized the ringtone as well, he wanted to answer Lori's call right this second, but right now the preteen was carrying two massive stacks of plates and other silverware and glasses in his hands, having been put through several different things to do since he arrived.

"Coming through!" Lincoln backed through the double doors into the kitchen, seeing the four cooks running around and working hard to get all the food prepared and ready to order. The bucktoothed boy had dodged his ten sisters in the house on a daily basis just to get to the bathroom every morning, so doing the same except to get to a kitchen and carrying plates, while dodging waiters or the cooks, was just not much different.

"Whew," Lincoln breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he reached the sink, resting the plates into it. He had taken off the orange top of his suit and was wearing an apron as he was ordered by his current job's boss, who happened to also be the head chef of the kitchen. Lincoln did not really mind it all that much since at the moment he was the busboy, which he was so far finding easy at least, though while he was working, he noticed two of the cooks who also wore ruby animal rings. They too were co-workers of his as far as he could tell. One of them wore an ant on their ring and the other had a sloth, each one having a ruby in them as well. The young boy having forgotten about Lori's attempt to call him.

"Hey kid, quit daydreaming and get back to scrubbing!" the head chef called out.

"Oh! Yes sir!" Lincoln snapped out of his thoughts, beginning to get to work on the plates and silverware. He could not just let them air dry. The chefs were going through more plates than they were getting back, which was quite odd. Once a plate or glass was dried off, it was instantly snatched up by a waiter or chef. The kitchen was also quite hot, the steam burning off some of the boiling pots did nothing to help.

"I still need to figure out how I'm going to get to work every day…" Lincoln thought, trying to come up with some sort of plan. He was better with short term plans rather than long term, mainly because his long term plans tended to fall through halfway, either because of bad luck or whoever the plan revolved around was able to see through it. He at least had a few plans get pulled off without a hitch, and it felt great when they did go perfectly, but only rarely did that occur.

"'Ey, busboy, bring me two plates," one of the assistant cooks called out. Lincoln nodded before grabbing two of the dry plates from the stack and bringing them over, resting them on the silver counter top. Lincoln noticed a stressed look on the chef. He seemed short of breath and sweating a lot.

"Are you alright?" Lincoln tugged on the cook's sleeve.

"Yeah… I thought I told you to only bring two plates, not four," he replied, the bucktooth busboy looked down to see only two plates, and it was not like the silver counter was reflective at the moment since it had not been cleaned for the night yet. Only half a second after Lincoln had barely looked away, he noticed the cook about to collapse.

"Whoa, whoa, I've got you," Lincoln spoke, stopping the older co-worker of his from falling, helping him over to a nearby chair and easing him into it, "How long have you been working? If you don't get a break, you might get hurt."

"I think… it's been three days straight now," the workaholic chef had his hands on his knees, not really able to catch his breath, Lincoln getting him a glass of water to try and help him. "I don't have much purpose outside of this restaurant, so I put all my time and dedication I can here."

Lincoln did not know how to respond to that. He decided to just roll with his honest thoughts that were on his mind at the moment.

"Trust me; I don't have much purpose outside of my family. This job is my first real one… and… well, it's a long story how I wound up working for Nora, but working ourselves to death isn't going to really impress her at all," Lincoln reminded, presenting the ruby black widow ring of his as a form of symbolism that the cook was not alone in this harder line of work. The man chuckled a little, looking down at the ant ring that held the ruby in its mouth, making it look like an ant carrying a small red rock to a colony.

"Y'know, if working for Nora has taught me anything… it's that apparently everyone's life does have a value and a price on how much it's worth. Be honest, kid, you think of yourself a winner or a failure? And I don't mean at work, I mean anywhere," the overworked cook had his own question that he requested an answer to. Lincoln opened his mouth, initially wanting to say yes, but he caught himself fast on that.

"I… I haven't even been a worker for Nora for a day yet, so I dunno if I am a failure or winner there, but well… I sure feel like a failure at home. I got ten sisters, and I feel like I burden them all so much…" Lincoln claimed, his head resting in his hands. He remembered the family trophy case at home in the living room, and everyone had an award except for Lincoln himself. All he had as an award was more of a gift from his sisters than anything to cheer him up. It worked for a brief time, but Lincoln steadily saw it more as a metaphorically bronze possession that just reminded him he failed a lot, rather than a gold trophy representing victory.

"Well, you've not gotten any bruises from Nora yet… so that must be good. Before I get back to work, lemme ask, what do you think your own life is worth? 'Cause myself? Heh… I'm not even worth a thousand bucks," the chef declared, almost as if he found it funny recalling the abuse Nora had given to him and many other employees, but that was part of the job, and maybe she had taken it easy on the preteen for his age. Lincoln could not look him in the eye when thinking on it.

"I… I don't think I'm worth even twenty dollars," Lincoln confessed how he felt personally. Once he had answered, he pulled out the bottle of medicine from his pocket, taking another one of the pills. He had followed the doctor's orders on how often to take it, which was several times every day.

"Dang, kid… well, thanks for pulling me back to rest. I'm sure you'll be fine," the cook reassured, while giving his thanks.

"Thanks… I really hope so" Lincoln looked away, taking a second to think about this. That short peace was suddenly cut off by a loud thud. He looked over to see the unfortunately fallen unconscious chef, laid out on the floor.

"Oh no! ...we need an ambulance!" Lincoln called out. The head chef saw his unconscious worker, and then went for the phone instantly while the others in the kitchen and some waiters came to try and help with the cook who had fallen unconscious shortly after the talk.

"That talk might not have helped much," Lincoln thought. On the contrary it probably had stressed the poor chef more than he was before, that or he had been barely hanging onto his consciousness to begin with. It took only ten minutes before paramedics had arrived to take the chef to emergency care.

"Unfortunately, this has set our night back a lot," the head chef informed the staff as their chef got taken away on the stretcher. Lincoln still had to finish cleaning the current huge stack of dishes before he got the next couple of stacks from the dining room.

"Our orders are backed up and now we gotta expedite things. We need someone that can fill in for Michael," the head chef explained. Lincoln had a bad feeling about this, and he was right. The other co-workers had cleared away, leaving the lone busboy as the choice.

"Erm… bu-but I don't know how to cook anything o-on the menu," Lincoln nervously spoke, not hesitant to confess his lack of cooking skills. He could cook some things, but not five star restaurant cuisine. And he rarely had cooked for anyone but himself.

"Just follow my orders and you'll do fine. Really you're probably the only one in this kitchen right now that isn't half asleep, and there is a critic somewhere in that dining room too," the boss of the kitchen reassured. Lincoln gulped, slowly starting to agree to this. He would do his best to make sure tonight did not get any more delayed than it already had. The only reason they were desperate to have as many cooks working as possible, was because of said critic looking for any excuse to take a star off the restaurant's precious three year long perfect reputation.

"I'll do my best sir," Lincoln nodded, before hearing his phone go off again with a slightly more upbeat tune. He recognized it as Lynn's ringtone. The young boy reached into his pocket, pulling out his cellphone. He was about to willingly answer this before a hairnet grabbed his head and he got turned around.

"No phone calls! Now get to work on those entrees!" the head chef roared, Lincoln nearly dropping his phone. The single son of the family hated ignoring phone calls, but his family would have to wait. Work was work and the boss had changed from reassuring to terrifying fast. Lincoln pocketed his cellphone and ran up to the front of the oven. Several ingredients were laid out around on the counters and shelves.

"So, uh… what am I cooking?" Lincoln had no clue what the entrees were. He was just relying on his temporary boss for guidance.

"Tortilla lasagna. Gather your things and grab a knife," the head chef ordered. Lincoln had to ask for help pointing out what to get, but thankfully the head chef seemed merciful enough to calmly help him get the items. In a minute the preteen had olive oil in a skillet heating up over the stove, and was cutting up an onion and green pepper with the razor sharp knife. His boss's eyes watched over him more than anyone else in the kitchen, not that he expected anything less.

"Don't forget to mince the garlic cloves," the head chef reminded. Lincoln was just glad he was not being shouted at constantly, but only had that happen if he had messed up big time. Once all of that was prepared, he brushed it into the skillet, hearing the sizzling sounds as the ingredients landed in it, a sound like a farm of hissing snakes.

"Good, good, you are a natural… at following orders," the head chef half-complimented. Lincoln was surprised himself with how well this was going.

"Now then," the head chef coughed, "Get a cup and a half of crushed tomatoes, and stir that in with a cup of water and four ounces of chili."

Lincoln nodded, trying to not overheat while doing everything. The kitchen felt like a searing sauna now that he was working more intensely in it. Being by a warm stove cooked him up like the food currently on it. After ten more minutes of instructions and careful work, Lincoln had finally finished the tortilla lasagna.

"Wow…" Lincoln muttered, seeing the food he had made on the plate before him. It did not have the best presentation, but it was better than the head chef expected due to the expediting. They had to crank up the speed in some areas, so the appearance could be forgiven.

"Good work, boy," the boss of the restaurant watched as one of the waiters came to grab the food, going off to deliver it to its table. The preteen could not believe he actually had made that. It was actually a good feeling that soothed his nerves.

"Thank you, sir!" Lincoln excitedly hummed. He then noticed several more orders lay out before him on the counter.

"We got more orders to fill out. Glad to see you have more confidence though. That'll help a lot, boy… or should I say chef?" the head chef said with a small joke. Lincoln was ready for this, believing he could handle it now once again. His sisters' two attempts to call him had slipped his mind entirely. Lincoln got back to his temporary job, willing to do his best. He had a lot to do before closing time, at midnight.

"Chef Lincoln Loud… I like the sound of that."


	9. Topaz Reality

Lincoln had been working hard for the last few hours. He only had made two entrees before the head chef had decided to throw him to the bigger tasks to cook, and he had to redo a few orders because of how badly the preteen messed up on them, but each time he did, another chef, or his temporary boss, the head chef, helped him improve and pointed out an easy way around the flaws. Before Lincoln knew it, he was cooking on his own. He just had to know the ingredients and order of how the recipe went, and he was able to do it by himself, without much metaphorical hand holding.

"Here you go. One lightly seasoned well done wagyu beef steak," Lincoln rested the food down on the counter, letting one of the waiters take it. The boy was cheerful, despite the heavy sweating and the few burns he accidentally got on his hands due to carelessness.

"Haha! My boy, you did quite well for someone with no experience in the kitchen! You did better than Michael could!" the head chef praised the temporary worker, claiming he was even better than the chef who had wound up going to the hospital. Lincoln gave a nervous smile, thankful for the compliments. Suddenly he realized the time.

"Wow it's already ten til midnight…" Lincoln said. Time really did fly. He went from busboy to chef fast and was quite thankful for the experience. The kitchen was winding down since it was nearing closing time, and nearly everyone in the dining room had cleared out after their meals were finished.

"Yeah, kid. We can finally get some rest. If we ever need extra help, we're requesting Nora to send you," the other chef chimed up from the other side of the counter.

"I'd be glad to! …even if I just get stuck washing dishes again," Lincoln grinned with a thumbs up, looking over to the other chef, his co-worker who had come as well for a temporary job, who was wearing a sloth ring, the animalistic symbol having its arms around the ruby, making it look like it was using the red rock as a pillow.

"So… Lincoln, right? How much are you in for? …y'know, with Nora," the older temporary worker pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, taking one out and lighting it, not caring at all for the kitchen which he was smoking in.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lincoln replied, before having a puff of smoke blown in his direction. If he had not been working so long over various cooking areas in the kitchen, he might have the energy to be moderately annoyed by now.

"You have an animal on a ring that has a ruby in it. Anyone who has one of those rings is in debt to Nora. Myself? I'm David, but I'm in for five-hundred grand," the sloth-ring wearer spoke how far in the hole he was in terms of cash.

"Wait… why'd you borrow that much money for? I'm in for twenty-five hundred," Lincoln answered while asking another question at the same time.

"I needed to get my family to another country. I took only enough money for them, so I stayed behind. Also, twenty-five hundred…? You're lying, kid. No one is in for that low," David laughed, not believing the price the preteen had replied with. Lincoln took the hairnet off his head and rested it aside and undid his apron, since it seemed there were no more orders left to cook.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln wondered, as David had finished his cigarette and was onto lighting his next one.

"I may not work with her, but anyone who needs a temporary worker requests them from Nora… and everyone is in debt to Nora, no matter how little they borrow. The payback interest rate of the loan is ridiculous, according to other workers I've had here," the head chef explained, while trying to put away some more of the silverware and plates that had been finished by another employee during the work hours.

"Wait, interest rate? She didn't mention interest!" Lincoln groaned while rubbing his eyes, but tried to calm down, not wanting to overreact to some upset workers taking maybe an extra fifty dollars and over exaggerating about it.

"I'm sure it's not much more. I'll talk with Nora when I get back," Lincoln exhaled, having finally calmed down. Unfortunately his calm state of being was shattered quite fast when the chain smoker decided to chime up again.

"Kid, you don't understand…" David sighed out, "…and I think you really should know this by now. The second you took that loan, you signed yourself away to work it off for the mafia. Emphasis on the mafia, that Nora here is running. We've got two major rival groups, both that would love to have every last one of us killed and suck the blood out of our skulls. Only upside to having three big businesses fighting with each other, is that it means that no one can focus on one target. If two begin fighting directly, then the third'll be a wild card that can swoop in and wipe out the leftover competition."

"The mafia?! …well so far the only illegal thing I've seen from Nora is… well, having me as a worker," Lincoln shrugged. He was breaking a law of working below the required age, leaving out how he caught her breaking and entering into a home. He doubted anyone would care though, as long as he did whatever job he was assigned decently. All he could keep mentally repeating was that this debt was worth it, and when he had it worked off he could go back to his normal life.

"Boss, we got a problem," they heard as a waiter re-entered the kitchen, carrying the very plate of wagyu beef steak that Lincoln had cooked earlier.

"Eh? What's the matter?" the head chef requested as the plate was set on the counter. The three cooks looked over to see a disgustingly big cockroach on the plate, cut in half and not moving an inch.

"Ew! What's going on?" Lincoln gagged. The waiter was calm about it like he had seen it a million times, before he pointed a thumb to the dining room.

"Only two guys left in the dining room. One is the critic and the other is a friend of the critic. He claims that this roach was on his plate, and he only realized it after he consumed half of it," the waiter informed them. Lincoln wanted to vomit just imagining it, but he swore there was nothing but the very food on that plate when it got sent out. Either the roach got there in between the trip from the kitchen to the critics table, or the waiter had put it on there as some sort of sick joke.

"What? Which one of us became suddenly blind? You'd have to be an idiot to not see something like that on your plate," David commented.

"You think they slipped a roach in under a necklace or something?" Lincoln theorized, wondering why it mattered. He had seen crazier in his normal life. Then again, everything seemed to go crazy since day one of this mafia mess.

"Aw, no! Don't tell me I'm gonna need the cleaning crew in my restaurant again," the head chef muttered, looking nervous now himself.

David suddenly had another thing cross his mind, turning to the waiter to ask him, "Hey penguin, were either of the two wearing jewelry?"

"Well, yeah. One had three rings on his left hand and the other had one on his right. They kind of looked like computer parts. I thought it was just some new trend junk, but then they had yellow gems on them," the waiter described what he could recall. Lincoln felt the atmosphere become far tenser than he ever imagined.

"What? Isn't that the critic out there? Shouldn't we be… y'know… trying to make sure he doesn't give a bad score?" Lincoln requested to be let into the loop on the information he was lacking. The critic might have even left by now, but he was starting to think the same as his co-workers, that the critic faked consuming a roach to trash the restaurant's reputation and take it from five to one star.

"Kid, I'm going to give you three things to do. Go out the back door, get to a phone and call Nora. Tell her we got topaz workers here," David ordered. Lincoln noticed that the head chef had grabbed his things and was clearing out. Any of the other staff around were doing the same, leaving as fast as they could, except they seemed to primarily be taking the fire exit, not caring if they triggered an alarm.

"Topaz? Wait, please David, can you at least tell me what's going on? I don't want Nora to think I'm going insane," Lincoln replied, though he mentally could not deny that he was losing it in a sense. The joy of his new cooking skills quickly sapped away by the sudden fear of this situation.

"They're one of the rival groups I mentioned. And I don't want to alarm you, but the longer you stay here and do nothing, the more likely we're going to die. Now can you go call Nora before the two in the dining room catch on?" David explained, going over to the double doors that normally allowed people into the kitchen. Lincoln noticed an odd modification to this door. A lever was attached to the side, and upon being pulled, he noticed small piping come up from above and below to keep the doors closed, preventing them from opening.

"Ri-right I'll do that!" the white haired boy agreed, going off to call their boss, going straight for the back door. Lincoln wished he could just use his cellphone, but he had no reception, like the good connection he had suddenly vanished. However, after he unlocked the back door and opened the door, he was met with a sudden hard kick to his face that sent him flying across the kitchen floor.

"Nice try, you rat. But did ya think we'd stay sitting in the dining room the entire time?"

Lincoln sat up, his nose bleeding, his blurry eyes averting to two men standing in front of the doorway. David almost bit his cigarette in two.

"Wow… Nora really is desperate if she's getting young'uns. We gonna have some fun with'em first, or going to get straight to the point?" the skinnier of the two men spoke. Both men had weird rings on their hands, with various electronic symbols on rings and a topaz gem embedded in them. Lincoln guessed the rings were how the gangs told their own groups apart.

"Is th-this over the steak?" Lincoln coughed. The two topaz workers looked at each other, confused, the bigger man cracking his neck before a toothy grin crept across his face.

"I didn't care for it. This restaurant always has sucked anyway. Once you two are dealt with, we'll make sure it's nothing but ashes, along with ya bodies," the man described. Lincoln felt his heart stop for a moment, seeing the man pull out a switchblade. The young boy got back up on his feet, not sure what to do. The skinnier of the two men walked toward David, wielding a weird tazer device, the prongs of it that conducted electricity looking sharp enough to pierce flesh.

"So kid, I'll spare you some pain if you just give up quietly," the bigger man offered. Lincoln wound up taking a step back. He was nearly in tears. He was face to face with people who wanted him dead, and he had never met them before or had done anything to wrong them.

"Don't go breaking down on me now," David told Lincoln. The attacker tried to lung at the cook with the tazer. He took the hit to his arm almost intentionally. His body was convulsing and feeling the shock shake him to the core.

"Go! Get moving!" David roared, jerking back, somehow able to resist the tazer before punching the skinny topaz ring wearer in the face, knocking him back. Lincoln did as ordered while the man with the switchblade was distracted momentarily. The young preteen ran for the kitchen door, pulling the lever to unlock it before dashing out, to get to the front door.

"What the-?!" Lincoln realized the front door was not budging. Someone had deliberately gone out of their way to jam the push only door with some bent pieces of metal. The young boy was panting, his heart not stopping its constant beating. Lincoln's life was on the line, and now he was stuck in this horrible position. There were no windows to bust out that he could reach without the use of a ladder.

"Alright, kid. Have it the hard way," he heard. Lincoln turned around, seeing three-ringed man in front of him, twirling the switchblade in his fingers.

"What is wrong with you guys?!" Lincoln could only question. The older man laughed at that comment before beginning to approach.

"Just business, you little punk… If you really want, I'll gladly carve those five stars into your chest," he threatened. Lincoln could not imagine being tortured to death. He hoped that maybe one of his co-workers had called for help somehow. The young boy had to think fast, not wanting to picture his family reacting to him dying by brutal murder or having his body hidden in some hole where no one would know what befell him.

"You're about to see how much chaos a Loud can cause," Lincoln grinned, having an idea come to mind. The man came charging for him. Each time his feet hit the ground, a loud stomp sounded on the marble floor. The young boy threw himself onto the floor, sliding right under his attacker before quickly getting back up and continuing to run.

"What the- you dang rat!" the man angrily went to chase him down, noticing Lincoln heading in the direction of the bathrooms. The bigger man chuckled, shaking his head.

"So easy when they corner themselves…" he spoke, letting his knife drag along the wall as if to let the long scraping noise be a terrifying warning that he was approaching. The man opened the boys' bathroom. There was no one in there. He then looked over at the girls' bathroom, grabbing the door knob to that and pulling the door open.

"What's going on here?" the topaz member grit his teeth, looking irritated. Nothing once again, like Lincoln had vanished somehow. But then from a closet stationed shortly before the bathroom, Lincoln popped out with a fire extinguisher in his hands, behind the attacker.

"Surprise!" Lincoln squeezed the handle. The spray of white foam shot out in a hard stream. The man screamed feeling it blast him in face, directly into his eyes, burning on contact. The floor became quite slippery from the blast, too. The loud boy did not let up, keeping his hand gripping it tightly. The lunatic tried to approach him, but his feet slipped out from under him on the foam, a loud slam echoing out through the otherwise quiet restaurant.

"Whew…" Lincoln wiped some sweat off his forehead. The man was no longer moving, the knife being broken in two, primarily from age, after hitting against the marble floor it was nothing but trash now.

"…David!" Lincoln gasped. He turned on his heels, making a quick rush to the kitchen, his hand still keeping the fire extinguisher gripped tight, thinking it would be the best weapon he had available to him at the moment.

"David-! Dav-oof!" Lincoln gasped in pain, having been hit in the side of his head by something hard, and letting his fire extinguisher fall out of his hand.

"Can't believe Johnny had this much trouble with ya," sounded the voice of the skinny man. Lincoln saw David lying half on the counter top, his head bleeding profusely. The preteen did not get a chance to move before feeling the hand of the older man wrapping around his throat and picking him up, before pinning him against the wall.

"The other moron might have broken my tazer, but the fun thing about kitchens, is all the sharp things you can find in'em," the man showed a medium sized knife. Lincoln's eyes widened. He could not scream for help, and his flailing was doing nothing. Tears beginning to come from his eyes as he desperately tried to catch his breath to no avail.

"You ruby scumbags deserve this," the man slid the knife very slowly against Lincoln's right arm, leaving a nasty gash. If he could, he would be crying in agony right now. The man was able to get two more gashes in the young boys arm, each one being deeper than the last. Lincoln could feel his lungs burning, as his consciousness was fading.

"Night night, kid," the man pulled back his blood dripping knife, about to finish him off. He was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a loud clang, and collapsed releasing his grip on the young boy. Lincoln fell onto the floor against the wall gasping for oxygen.

"Hey, hey, I told you not to go breaking down on me," David's voice rung out. He stood there, holding the fire extinguisher in his hand, his face half covered in his own blood. The man took so long trying to torture the preteen that Lincoln's co-worker was able to regain consciousness.

"Da…David…" Lincoln sniffled, now that he had his breath back. He stood back up, his tear stained face looking down at his arm. They seemed like just oversized flesh wounds, but thankfully not much blood was being lost. He was unable to fathom that he almost had been murdered, and the men had barely any hesitation or qualms about torturing him. It was scary to know people like this existed.

"If ya don't got the gut to do it, I'll handle finishing them off. Just go call Nora before you get grabbed again," David spoke, seeming to be wanting to kill them both.

"No! Wait!" Lincoln shouted, catching the sloth ring wearer off guard.

"Ju…just put them in the walk in freezer and call the police…" Lincoln suggested. He had seen enough blood, and would not be able to live with himself if he actively permitted a murder to be committed.

"…kid, you're stupid and insane… but guess we don't got much time before cops get here anyway," the smoker groaned, but reluctantly agreed. By now, all the noise or one of their co-workers had gotten the police's attention. Lincoln helped David get both of the unconscious topaz machinery ring-wearing lunatics into the walk in freezer, and locked them both inside. There was no way outside of it, so it made for an efficient makeshift prison.

"So… first day on the job you said?" David asked while stepping outside the restaurant with Lincoln. The two were in the back alley now, some trash being around.

"Y-yeah, but… I… don't know if I can do this… I just wanted to make my family happy," Lincoln said through his choked sobs, even though his arm, neck, and face were the main things hurt in that fight. Even if he survived, he felt like he lost in the end. He had not even realized he was sitting against one of the alley walls with his knees pulled up to his chest.

"Jeez… look, Lincoln, I hate to say it, but you're doomed either way. You got as many options as the rest of us. Either you put up a fight, do your best work that debt off… or try to hide from Nora only to be tracked down. Only two people have done that, and they had their families murdered, to make a point to the other workers." David explained while taking a seat beside him. Lincoln looked over to him, seeing him holding a cigarette, which he was offering it to the preteen.

"One thing is for sure… stress will kill you if you can't get a handle on it."

Lincoln took the cigarette, looking at it for a moment before he snapped it in half and placed it calmly on the ground. Lincoln turned down the offer. His entire family would be upset if they found out he was smoking. "Sorry… I'm not old enough to smoke…"

"You could've just said no, you know. That was my last one," David claimed, only to realize his words fell on deaf ears, and he decided to ignore it, knowing Lincoln just wanted to block out the stress he experienced from the desperation.

"I heard what Michael and you talked about earlier. Let me just say he isn't wrong. Every life can have a price placed on it, but it's still not any easier to kill someone, but it's a lot harder to subdue someone. If you're willing to put your life on the line to make sure no one dies… I can respect that… but boy, you really need to learn how to toughen up and fight better," David declared. Lincoln needed time to think on that. They could hear the distant sounds of police sirens.

"You told us you don't want your family to know anything about this debt, right? Then get back to Nora's pronto. I'll handle things here," the chain smoker recommended. Lincoln stood up, gaining a small smile. He wiped some of the tears out of his eyes, before he put his hand in David's and shook. The young boy could be a lot happier to know he had co-workers that were truly supportive. Lincoln needed to follow up with doctor Jeffrey, not only for more tests, but because of his new wounds that had to be treated. Lincoln wished he could call his sisters back over the missed call attempts that he now recalled, but it was too late to wake them up to just lie that he was alright.

"David… t-thanks… and take care!" the preteen began to run the opposite direction of the restaurant, leaving David standing in that alley with his hands in his pocket and a smile on his face.

"Hope you can take care of your family… a lot better than I took care of mine…"


	10. Calm After The Storm

The time was four in the morning. Lincoln was back in his normal orange shirt and blue pants while at his main place of work, which he referred to as Nora's base. Lincoln sat in the doctor's office in one of the medical beds, with an IV hooked up to him, giving him some fluids. Lincoln was in an odd state of emotions right now. On one hand he felt mentally broken, knowing that so many people wanted him dead. He was not able tell if he was happy that his family would be alright and knowing only his life was in danger, or upset that he could die at any moment from just one random lunatic from an opposing gang who would see his ring and go on in an all-out offensive against him.

"Hey Lincoln, how are you feeling?" Jeffrey chimed while coming over to check on him.

"Oh… I'm feeling good… just… hard to take everything in at once, you know?" Lincoln replied. The doctor nodded understanding how things felt, especially when multiple bombshells were dropped at once.

"I got good news and bad news for you… here's the good news first," Jeffrey handed over a piece of paper to him. It was more test results, and just like before, Lincoln had no clue what they read.

"What's good here?" Lincoln requested to have things put simply for him. The African American doctor began to remove the IV from the young boy's wrist.

"Your white blood cell count has dropped, and by a lot too… that means you have an infection. Congratulations," Jeffrey told him. Lincoln was confused, but had already been informed that some infections did not have fevers or many symptoms one could notice easily.

"Wait… so that means... I don't have cancer?" Lincoln gasped. The doctor nodded, showing that same smile of his. The white haired boy could only tackle the doctor into a tight hug.

"Thank you so much!" Lincoln felt a lot more uplifted and better with that burden off his shoulders. It was one less thing to worry about now, and he really needed that relief.

"First time I've heard a thank you from another worker of Nora's in a long time… but I still need to tell you the bad news," Jeffrey reminded. Lincoln was more than all ears now that he knew that he was no longer under a huge medical threat.

"Your arm's gonna have to heal on its own. The cuts aren't that deep, and whether or not you get a scar is how it heals," the doctor told him. Lincoln looked down at his arm, the three cuts on it still prominent. The young boy looked at a nearby mirror, seeing the choke bruises around his throat from where that man had nearly strangled him unconscious.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Lincoln questioned while the doctor was at the medical supply cabinet, rummaging around to find something specific.

"For what? Getting cut up because you had a run in with some topaz guys? Not exactly in your control," Jeffrey responded, presuming he was referring to the restaurant incident.

"No, I mean… am I stupid for joining Nora? I borrowed that money to make all my family happy… and I did, but… I'm worried, because I have no regrets for borrowing the money either," Lincoln elaborated on what he meant as Jeffrey closed the supply cabinet and came over, presenting an arm cover for the young boy so he could keep his arm's wound from being exposed to the elements too much.

"Heh… funny you mention it… about five years ago, another worker asked me something like that, and all I can tell you is that you either really love your family so much that you don't even care about your own wellbeing… or you hate yourself so much that you can brush off near death experiences like it's nothing," Jeffrey explained. Lincoln had no idea how to respond. Hearing that someone similar was in a position like his years ago was not much better.

"Nora wanted me to give you this, by the way, before you go home," the doctor handed over a small envelope. Lincoln opened it to view a small note inside of it.

"You did extremely well."

"What is… ohh…?" Lincoln was in shock as he pulled out five hundred dollars from the envelope. The thing keeping the wad of bills together was another ring for him, the ring looking like a crab that was holding the ruby between its pincers. The preteen did not have any hesitation to slide that ring on his other hand. Now he had one on each ring finger.

"Congrats, kid. You're going up in the world fast," Jeffrey congratulated him. Lincoln knew this money was going to go to his debt to help pay it off, or he could just keep working and spend it on what he wanted. It appeared that Nora had a 'pay however you want' method setup, though he recalled what David had told him, that the mafia was not interested in getting their money back but rather get free labor and have it worked off.

"I'm going to go home. Tell Nora I'll be back Monday," Lincoln pocketed the money, willing to take two personal days off. The doctor nodded, letting him go. The loud member had a long walk if he wanted to get back home, though right now the young boy needed to go to a store that hopefully had abysmal open hours so he could get something he needed.

Lincoln had spent the next two hours walking through Royal Woods. The night life was nice, but he was not fit for it. He had an idea in mind for what to do to get a ride to work now. He just had to tie up the loose ends for it. He had stopped at a twenty-four hour supermarket that stayed open at this time of night. Lincoln pulled out his cellphone. At least twelve text messages had been sent to him during his work last night, the two phone calls were the least of his worries.

"I really need some way to wake myself up…" Lincoln thought. He had spent a whole day awake now without any rest. The young boy entered into a public bathroom he found along his walk.

"This could be an opportunity… scratch that, this could open a lot of opportunities for my family," Lincoln thought. If this was how much he was going to be paid for doing a great job, and if Nora only wanted him to work off his debt, that meant he could get plenty of money. He would be able to help his family with anything they needed. The white haired teenager put those thoughts away for now. He just needed to enjoy the two days off from work, and look forward to going home.

"For now, I gotta deal with these…" Lincoln spoke, looking in the mirror to view the bruises around his neck and the very dark bags under his eyes that showed his lack of sleep and energy. He got out the bag he had been carrying from the store and pulled out a small makeup kit from the bag, thinking it would be best to do his best to cover up the injuries with makeup. Unfortunately, he had no real way to cover up the cut marks, having to rely on the cover the doctor put on his arm to act as the camouflage.

"I should thank Lola for showing me how to put on makeup. Never thought it'd be useful outside of a tea party," Lincoln thought. One of the twins loved playing dress up, and sometimes asked for help when putting on her makeup, and the one she always went to was her brother.

"So far so good…" Lincoln had spent twenty minutes in the empty public bathroom, applying the makeup to his neck to cover the bruises, and once that was done, he began to cover up the bags under his eyes, trying to add some color to his face as well to take away the paleness. The preteen was surprised by how scary today had been, but he was disturbingly able to move on so fast.

"I should probably keep this," Lincoln said to himself, putting the makeup kit back in the shopping bag. It felt nice to be out of that orange suit and be back in his normal clothes again. Once the young boy had finished doing everything here, he left the public bathroom. Lincoln could not wait to see his sisters again.

"Waaah! Waaaah!"

Luna's trip to dreamland was forced to a short halt by the sound of Lily crying. She had slept in her bed, lying on her stomach until she was forced awake by the noise.

"Ugh… what time is it?" Luna rubbed her eye. Her clock by her bed read 6:26am. She took care of Lily a lot and normally had no problem with the youngest sibling. However, Lily had wakened up the entire household several times with crying in the night like she was having constant bad dreams from missing her brother. No one could stay asleep longer than thirty minutes, aside from their parents who were very hard to wake up. The rocker got up in her pajamas and headed out into the darkened hallway, where she saw Leni coming up from downstairs.

"Morning, Leni," Luna yawned, seeing her sister with a mug of coffee. She seemed to not have gotten much sleep herself.

"Morning, Luna… Sorry, I fell asleep on the couch," the blonde girl stated while drinking from her mug.

"What made you sleep on the couch? You fall asleep watching TV?" Luna questioned while walking down the hall, her older sister following.

"No… they said Lincoln would be back early this morning… so I thought I'd stay down there in case he showed up early…" Leni confessed. She had been hoping her sibling would be back a lot sooner than that woman said. Luna felt disheartened by the reminder of the visit from the CPS worker. The two arrived to the younger children's room. The crying Lily was in her crib, the only one awake in the room. It seemed like the others were too tired to wake up to her cries this time.

"Hey, Lily, did you have another bad dream?" Luna asked, her sister calming down while being cradled in her arms. Lily's chinchilla costume was off of her and in the wash. The infant sniffled, snuggling up to her lightly. A moment later, the sound of knocking on the door drew their attention.

"Wha…? Who could it be at this hour?" Luna questioned. Leni had no idea. She went off to see who was at the door, letting her older sister take care of Lily. The long haired woman could not see outside of the eye hole in the door, since the light bulb on the front porch was in need of changing, thus the area was still partially dark.

"Who is it? …OH MY GOSH!" Leni squealed as she opened the door. Standing before her was a brightly smiling Lincoln. The preteen did not get a chance to say anything before being yanked inside into a tight hug, his shopping bag still in his other hand.

"What's going on?" Luna asked before her eyes saw the scene before her, Lily seeming a lot happier now by seeing it all as well.

"Lincoln! You're back!" Luna rushed right down, joining into the hug. Lincoln did his best to not make the pain he felt on his arm from the touch be seen. He even felt Lily's little arms doing their best to give him as big a hug as she could. Lincoln was more than glad to return the embrace.

"I missed you guys too much."


	11. Breakfast Banter

**Authors Note: Hi all, I hope you are enjoying the daily updates. I am thankful for all the support this fic has gotten, especially for it being my first one. I know some are worried fic is ending, but I have to say this is maybe 10% done. Enjoy!**

Lincoln was in the kitchen once more with a bright smile across his face, working at the stove to prepare pancakes. It was not the five star foods he was used to baking, but he thought it would be a great thing to do for his family now that he was home. He seemed to have quite the mood booster now since stepping back into his house. He had been showered with a lot of love from three of his family members. The rest of his sisters were still asleep, as well as their parents.

"Wow… I've never seen you cooking this much before," Leni said, surprised. The preteen smirked at the comment. He was trying to make enough pancakes for all of his siblings once they were woken up.

"I just want to do something nice for the best sisters anyone could ask for," Lincoln replied.

"And no one else could ask for a cooler bro," Luna said while playing with Lily who sat in her high chair. There were two tables in the kitchen, the 'grown up' table and the 'kids' table, which were different in sizes. Lincoln was still not allowed to join the grown up table and had honestly lost all care for anyone disagreeing with him sitting at it. Sometimes the grown up table became as hectic as the kids table.

"Speaking of which, how did that talk go with the uh… psych-olo-gist…?" Leni asked, having the word written down on a small part of her hand because she kept having trouble pronouncing it. Lincoln had almost forgotten the lie Nora had used that he had to visit a psychologist before he could come back home. He had to think up an answer for that.

"It went good. Talked a lot, got told I might have a few personal and mental issues, like any normal person, but nothing else," Lincoln explained. Leni wanted to inquire further, but she noticed Luna motioning her to not bother. To the rock lover, psychologists were just living walls that sat there nodding while the patient talked until time was up. She hated to imagine her brother tolerating that.

"Aaand they're done!" Lincoln had finished the last pancake, thinking now there was more than enough to go around for everyone of his sisters, aside from Lily who unfortunately had only one tooth in her mouth, which was not enough to bite into it.

"Great! I'm starved," Luna laughed, seeing him placing the food onto each plate at the grown up and kids tables. Leni nodded, ready to dig into her food, before their younger brother spoke up.

"Uh, I was thinking before we ate… you guys go tell everyone the good news, instead of trying to steal their pancakes when I look away?" Lincoln requested them to let everyone know that he was back now. The only reason they had kept quiet was because their brother had asked them to because he wanted to cook a surprise breakfast.

"Oh right! We almost forgot!" Leni realized. Luna sighed, a bit disappointed that she could not eat yet, but everyone else was still sleeping in because of Lily waking them up repeatedly in the night. Lincoln watched the two of them go off, before he went to his infant sibling while she was in her high chair.

"You think they'll like it?" Lincoln jokingly asked his baby sister as if expecting a response, poking her chest softly, the toddler giggling happy before reaching for him.

"Oh, you want up?" he nodded, picking her up out of her high chair. Lily clung onto his chest warmly as her older brother held her. Lincoln was surprised by how much everyone seemed to miss him, and he was not even gone for more than a day, which wasn't even that long, but he did not mind.

"Uhh… maybe I should've asked them to only wake one at a time…" Lincoln heard the upstairs floor shaking heavily. He guessed it was a stampede of nine excited sisters all rushing after being told the great news of their brother's return, that he could hear their joy upon seeing him. The boy was swamped by the usual Loud family mobbing.

"Lincoln! Thank goodness you're back!"

"Oh, we were worried we would never see you again!"

"I swear I'll find out who made those false accusations and pound them into dust!"

"Breathing space! Breathing space!" Lincoln cried, getting a few inches off at first, but thankfully that seemed to calm everything down. Lily was still in his arms, and the young boy rested her back in her high chair.

"Sorry for upsetting you all like that. It was way too quiet over there. But to make up for scaring everyone, I made you all breakfast," Lincoln claimed. Everyone's eyes adverted to the tables, Luna and Leni having already begun eating their share of the food.

"Wow… you made all this?" Lynn was surprised. She never had really seen her brother cook much in their entire lives, and how suddenly good he cooked those pancakes.

"It's just pancakes Lynn, it's not much," the white haired preteen nonchalantly brushed it off as nothing. Some of his sisters were noticing something odd about him today. He was acting different, more mature than usual.

"Well, let's eat!" Lana chimed up, she and the other younger siblings going to the kids' table. Lincoln had a bright smile, watching everyone taking their seats at the two tables, not wasting any time to begin eating. The young boy thought his parents might still be asleep.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Luan asked, thinking he did not have much to eat since he left, mainly because he had this odd tired feeling radiating off him, even if he did not look like it.

"No thanks, I feel like I've put on too much weight lately," Lincoln brushed the offer aside, leaving out the fact there was a small limit on the amount of pancakes he had been able to make and he did not want to take from anyone else's plate. He mainly recalled what David had told him, that he needed to learn how to fight better and get tougher. Thinking the best place to start, would be trying to cut down on his weight gaining.

"When did you start caring about your weight?" Lori asked, messing up his hair lightly, "Where's Lincoln and what'd you do with him?"

Lincoln laughed lightly, glad to have not been pressed too much on such matters. "Don't worry I just had too much time to think to myself."

Lincoln was about to leave the kitchen to let them eat before he heard the older blonde girl chime up again. "Uh, Lincoln, before you go, do you mind sitting down and having a talk?"

Lincoln felt concerned. He did his best to not show that. He had put the makeup in his room for when he needed to inevitably use it later.

"Sure. Something wrong with the food?" Lincoln took a seat at the grown up table. The oldest sibling tended to act like a second mother for a lot of them at times. It was nice to know how much she cared.

"No, the food's great. It's about the whole gift trade…" Lori shook her head. Most of the room was listening up. Lincoln wondered what was important that needed to be talked about regarding presents. As far as he knew, no one had gotten any gag gifts to annoy them.

"Some of us cleaned your room up for you, so you wouldn't have to worry about it when you got back. I found the paper with my name on it. When some of us started talking, we realized you only got one gift," Lori explained what had happened during the time he was gone after she, Lucy and Luan stumbled upon the blooper CD from Luna, the only gift Lincoln was given. Everyone seemed to stop caring about the rule of the gifters being secret long ago.

"Yeah, why? Are you worried that I'm jealous or something?" Lincoln chuckled, thankful for the concern.

"No, we think you got everyone a gift. You did send Lucy to get Luna's broken guitar after all," Luan chimed up. She had not really complained about her comic props being somewhat unusable from age to anyone else other than him. Luna started to catch onto what her sisters were getting at.

"Heh… alright, you caught me. I was the one who got you all your second gifts. What's wrong with that?" Lincoln confessed. He did not need to let things get more complicated, unfortunately that was not how things went in the Loud house.

"Wait, do you mean you really did get my guitar fixed?"

"You got the Rosetta tickets for me?"

"You found me that beautiful dress I wanted?"

Lincoln was wondering why they were so shocked, even Lori who knew the high chances of this being true, but her new phone was expensive alone, she found it still hard to believe he got that, let alone everyone else's gifts.

"Where'd you get the money for this all Lincoln?" Lori asked. Lincoln leaned back on the chair, feeling his heart pick up in pace being interrogated on where he got the money from. Lincoln figured that since he so far had survived and gotten by smoothly with the lies that first came to mind, he decided to fully wing it. Fate was unavoidable.

"I… I spent my savings from the last three years on them. And before you offer to return them, the receipts are probably in the city dump by now," Lincoln fibbed, aware that they would want to return the items to get him his money back, or at least offer to.

"Why would you do that?! These tickets are awesome but… I didn't want you to waste your life savings on them," Lynn frowned as she laid the Rosetta charity tickets on the table. She remembered him having mentioned years ago on a few occasions that he was considering starting to save up his money, just in case something ever happened and he needed it.

"The tools are much appreciated though," Lisa chimed from the kids table. She saw no point in arguing. It was his money that he was in control, and could of course spend it however he wanted, she doubted he would make the decision to get everyone a present out of impulse. She needed the tools he got her to finish several of her inventions and continue to make more, so she was thankful.

"You had to have wasted hundreds on the guitar fixing too. I know, yeah, it's my favorite, but wow…" Luna added. Leni did not have much regret since the thing she had wanted most was just a hard to find book, it wasn't expensive remotely. She was impressed that her younger brother found it with such ease.

"Well, the guitar was more of a talking issue than anything…" Lincoln coughed. That music store owner had gotten on his nerves trying to negotiate the price was not an issue, but trying to make the man repair the guitar was more ridiculous than it sounded.

"And my phone costs nearly a thousand dollars Lincoln! Why'd you blow all your money on us? Is something going on?" Lori loved the phone and all the features it had, but knowing that her brother had bought it with his savings that he got for doing chores around the house weekly, did nothing but make her feel bad for him, and worried if something was wrong.

"Is it wrong to make my sisters happy? You guys put up with me after all," Lincoln unfortunately had dropped his lie filled veil and let his depression show. He could not shake off how he felt about being a burden to his family.

"Put up with you? You're our brother! After all everyone puts up with everyone," Leni claimed. She shared a room with Lori and often had squabbles between the two of them for various reasons, mainly cleanliness. Lincoln had not really thought of that, never expecting Leni of all to open his eyes on that kind of train of thought. Everyone had aspects that some liked and others disliked, and no matter what, they tolerated it, because that was just what family did for each other.

"Ah, jeez guys… thanks for the talk. Just enjoy your breakfast now, and please enjoy your presents." Lincoln reassured with a smile, even if in his head he was far from okay. On the contrary, he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment, "And don't worry about my money. I'll get it back soon. I got a summer job now."

Lincoln began to walk away, wanting to go to his room. His sisters noticed more oddities about him now, worried by the bandaging stationed on his forearm, his new weird ring did nothing to help the curiosity. They all looked between each other.

"Wait… he got a job?"


	12. Self Harm

Lincoln sat alone in the laundry room, folding towels and clothes after finding out that it had been his turn the other day. His sisters all pitched in to take care of it for him, but he never knew how much dirty clothing could pile up in a single day.

"Why is this so strangely calming?" Lincoln asked himself. He had started this after having taken his medicine for today. He never would volunteer to do the laundry, unless the chore wheel landed on him. Now he felt a desire to just have a task to put his hands to work doing. The sound of the washing machine and dryer drowned out any noise trying to pierce the air of the laundry room. Suddenly the sound of his cellphone ringing got his attention.

"I really need to put this on vibrate," Lincoln thought, flipping the phone open and bringing it to his ear, letting it be held between his shoulder and head as he resumed folding the laundry, "Talk to me."

"Good morning, Mister Loud," Nora's voice rung out. Lincoln felt his heart skip a beat, but he calmed down fast. He had no clue how his boss found his phone number, but at this point, the preteen would not be surprised if she knew what size his fingernails were. It seemed like the ruby loving leader of the mafia loved having every last bit of information they could scrounge up on each worker.

"Morning boss," Lincoln answered after a few seconds of silence wondering what she wanted.

"First off, allow me to congratulate you for the almost clean bill of health. I'd hate to have to loan you more money for medical bills," Nora congratulated him for not being diagnosed with cancer, though still aware of him having an infection in his body that was on the way to being cleansed by the medicine.

"Thanks, boss. Is there a reason you're calling me? I'm taking a few days off," Lincoln informed her that he was not going to be working until Monday. He stood up with the laundry basket full of clean clothes, planning on just resting it in the upstairs hallway and let everyone get what was theirs out on their own.

"Yes, our doctor gave me the message, Mister Loud. I wanted to say I'm quite impressed. David Arambe informed me of your encounter with some of the topaz members. You took one on by yourself. I do question your decision to allow them to live, but you were the one in the situation, not me. I do wish you had told me about your sudden short vacation yourself however," Nora explained, the various reasons becoming a blur in Lincoln's mind. It was not from being uninterested in the conversation. He just was running on nearly no energy, and he preferred not to be reminded of his near death experience.

"You're not too happy about it I take it?" Lincoln asked while passing the living room. Lynn had been lying on the couch when she heard him getting up, hearing him talking. She decided to eavesdrop from a short distance. Everyone was really worried about him after all.

"Well, Mister Loud, as shocking as it may sound, I am… or at least was at one point, a reasonable person, but you did not only do above great at your first job, but also saved another co-worker's life, even if it was just by playing distraction… And by capturing those two instead of murdering them, you've sent quite a message to the other groups. I say you earned the days off. I know how hard it is to adapt to changes as drastic as these," Nora explained, sounding almost ecstatic. Lincoln had to stop himself halfway on the stairway, surprised to hear her in a joyful tone that he wondered if she was somewhat drunk.

"Well I mean… yeah, it's really hard. I feel like I hurt myself more than them. I mean what do I even tell others? No one would react well," Lincoln told Nora, wondering how he would even tell his co-workers who would inevitably want to be retold now that Lincoln had unintentionally made a name for himself in the whole mafia. Some praised him, others labeled him a coward, but most did not care. Lynn raised an eyebrow, standing right beside the stairs out of sight, wondering who he was talking to.

"I don't even feel like myself anymore. I feel like I'm living in someone else's body," Lincoln added while resting the laundry basket down and heading for his room.

"Mhm… I know how you feel Mister Loud. I have my own closet full of skeletons… or should I say basement? Heheh… I'll have you an assignment Monday. However, I'm going to assign you with a partner for your own safety," Nora informed him. Lincoln wondered who she had in mind. However the skeletons in the basement joke concerned him. He made a mental note to never go into the basement at his work.

"Thanks for being supportive… I really needed it," Lincoln thanked Nora, as odd as it sounded. He did waltz into this situation on his own accord, that he could not deny, but he also knew to respect his boss like he would any other person that had major authority over him, and could easily chop off his fingers if they ever chose to.

"Of course, Mister Loud… You have earned my respect thus far. It's nice to see you become less of a pushover, especially since when we first met you were crying on the floor," Nora stated. Lincoln rolled his eyes, before hanging up on her abruptly and pocketing his phone.

"Also Mister Loud, I feel I should warn you that your partner will be- …hello?" it took a moment for Nora to realize he had hung up on her. She just put the phone down, not caring about what he did on his short vacation. She was worried however that his partner might go meet him themselves before Monday.

"Not in his own body…?" Lynn scratched her head. She headed up the steps, thinking it would be best to talk to him to see if he was doing alright. The sports loving girl had also promised to make whoever got her the Rosetta tickets come with her to compete, though that was not going to be for another week.

"Hey Lincoln sorry to barge in… wha…?" Lynn was confused, noticing her younger brother frozen from the surprise of her sudden entrance. His arm cover lay nearby on his wardrobe. Lincoln was trying to check his wounds, but the sudden entrance from his sister had sent him into an unexpected panic and out of instant reaction, he hid his arm in his shirt by pulling it back from the sleeve.

"L-Lynn! Hey, you know I'd like you to kn-knock right? What if I was changing?" Lincoln asked, but received no answer. His horrid attempt to hide his wound was even more eye drawing than anything.

"I wanted to check up on you… what's this?" Lynn picked up the arm cover that the doctor had given her brother, noticing a red stain on it. Lincoln had unfortunately bumped into a rather sharp corner when leaving the laundry room and that had made his minor wounds bleed a little. He was checking to make sure they were not in need of an emergency trip to the doctors before his older sister had barged in.

"That's just a sock with a hole in it. I spilled some juice on it," Lincoln lied. As disappointed in himself as he was, he thought he was improving on the bluffing his way through situations method pretty well. At this rate soon, the white haired boy could pass as a half decent defense attorney.

"…you do know you're still wearing your shoes, right? With clearly easy to see socks," Lynn claimed. Lincoln looked down, wondering if he was so tired that he had actually forgotten to discard his shoes at the door, but he was only wearing socks on his feet.

"No, my shoes are downsta- ahhhh!" Lincoln got tackled to the floor by his sister who had taken advantage of his guard being down. Lynn was more than just a sports addict, she even had knowledge of kickboxing and wrestling, which made roughhousing with her more unfair and painful than it should be.

"Just let me see what you're hiding!" Lynn tried to lift his shirt up to see the arm he was hiding. Lincoln would gladly take fighting a sibling over one of the enemy gang members.

"No, Lynn! Get off me!" Lincoln grunted. She got ahold of his other arm and pinned it down with her leg, having caught him in a pin that was hard to break out of. The young boy hoping she did not count to three for the sake of it.

"It can't be that bad, Lincoln!" Lynn felt everything freeze as she had finally gotten his other arm out from his shirt and gripped his wrist with her hand. The auburn haired girl was mortified to see the cuts on his forearm that were somewhat bleeding, a few lines of red running down from the wounds, but the bleeding seemed to already be stopping, however he could see her quivering eyes focusing on the few drops of blood escaping onto the floor.

"Good… GOSH!"

"Ly-Lynn, wait, please!" Lincoln was able to get up and put his hand over her mouth, muffling her predicted scream. He guessed that her first instinct would be to cry for help from their older sisters. The preteen fixed his shirt removing his hand from her face once she stopped the screaming.

"Lynn, I can explain! Please, just calm down!" Lincoln pleaded. Lynn was used to seeing a lot of injuries, as she had gained a lot of her own from half the things she did, but seeing something this bad that was a new level of terror. The boy's mind scattered, trying to come up with something, anything that could cover the night's event that he had to endure. He hated to imagine how much danger his whole family would be in if they tried to get involved in his new mafia career.

"Your arm is bleeding! We need to get you help!" Lynn insisted. Her brother had his hands on her shoulder, not letting her get up, let alone out of his room until he could get a vow of silence of some kind, but regarding namesake, silence and loud were opposites, the young boy thinking he was in over his head now.

"You're overreacting! It's nothing, really! Please, I need you not to tell anyone," Lincoln begged. He could tell he had upset Lynn a lot that she had figured something was wrong now.

"Why?! Lincoln, you could get an infection, you could lose that arm if you let it stay like that!" Lynn argued. The younger boy suddenly had the lie come to the forefront of his mind that might be able to cover this. Lincoln let out a sigh of frustration, unable to believe he was in this position, that he had to use this pathetic lie. He wanted to go just one hour without lying to everyone he loved and cared for, but he had no other choice.

"Because I did it to myself!" Lincoln shouted out the lie. Silence fell, and he soon saw tears in the corners of her eyes.

"You… you did?" the sports girl felt like her heart was damaged. She could never imagine Lincoln cutting himself.

"Yeah… after feeling like I'm a burden to you all, I just… thought I deserved punishment of some kind," Lincoln kept up his facade of an act, his heart racing. He could not figure out what would be worse in this situation, his sister could run to the others at any moment, sorrowful or angry. He still felt like in deep trouble, and he was going to do his best to come out as close to top in this situation as he could.

"Oh my gosh… I… I didn't know we made you feel that way," Lynn sniffled, before wrapping her arms around his neck. Lincoln was caught off guard by this, hearing her sniffling and crying into him. The young boy regretted this already, but he was not too far away from the truth when lying. He did feel like a weight on everyone else's shoulders, and like most people, Lincoln had the stray suicidal thought cross his mind, and that they would be better without him, despite what Leni had told him earlier, but he was nowhere near close to acting out any of those life-ending actions.

"Lynn, no, you don't… No one does. I just hate feeling like I'm getting in the way of your lives. You all know what you want to do and have your futures planned… and what do I have? I'm just some blank slate that everyone is carrying," Lincoln's saddened gaze averted over to the floor as he rubbed her back, trying to reassure her that it was alright. He never wanted the sports girl to break down like this. The last time Lincoln saw the auburn haired girl cry was when she broke her leg months ago and could not do anything for three weeks, and even after she had gotten out of the cast, she had to take it slow or risk making things worse.

"I just don't want everyone freaking out over me…So please I need you to not tell anyone." Lincoln claimed as their embrace broke.

"I'll ke-keep quiet… if you promise me something," Lynn sniffed. She stood up, wiping a tear off her eye as she slowly regained her composure. Lincoln held not care for the minor wet place on his sleeve. He put his arm cover back over his wound, not caring about the blood now. It was better to wear it than to be caught without it on.

"Anything, you name it," Lincoln was more than happy to comply. It seemed that dumb luck had pulled through once again for him, or his own dumb mind had pulled out some good words for the situation. He noticed himself doing a lot better when under pressure.

"Promise me you won't hurt yourself anymore…" Lynn had her arms crossed, glaring at him for an answer.

"Lynn, I won't, don't worry. It was just a minor breakdown I had, it was a moment of weakness," Lincoln insisted. Even Lucy could tell him why cutting was not good at all to do.

"I said promise me you won't!" Lynn startled Lincoln into falling onto his bed, seeing the sport loving nut caught between emotions.

"Al-alright… I promise on my name as a Loud, I'll never hurt myself on purpose again," Lincoln swore, trying to give his full sincerity on the matter, even half-expecting her to tell him to pinky swear not to. He could feel that insane man's hand mentally gripping around his throat as he talked.

"And you'll let me check you for any marks, three, no. Five times, every day," Lynn added another demand. Lincoln wanted to say she was being a little unreasonable, but he understood, seeing her standing before him hiding her upset emotions being a clear reminder of why.

"Alright, Lynn. I'll let you examine me as much as you'd like," Lincoln added to his promise. The silence continued from there, until he felt Lynn pat his shoulder.

"Sorry…" Lynn murmured, before beginning to head back to her room, needing time to gather her thoughts.

"That fight reminded me…" Lincoln was glad that was dealt with. He had to call someone up for a favor. David's words of improving himself were echoing in his young head. Lincoln went back on his cellphone, locking the bedroom door after his sister left, before dialing up a number and waiting.

"Hello Lame-o. Was wondering where you were, How are ya?" Lincoln smiled, feeling calmer now despite the voice on the other line insulting him upon answering.

"Hey, Ronnie! I missed you a lot… Listen, I need you to help me with something. It's really important, you know… and it's about my safety! J-just meet me in the park as soon as you can," Lincoln told her. The girl on the line could not ignore the sudden request. Imagining it being important, that and he had hung up on her before she could inquire more, somewhat forcing her to either go check up on him at where he requested, or ignore it and plausibly leave him to whatever problem he had alone, she wondered what trouble her boyfriend had gotten into now. she grabbed her skateboard and helmet and headed out to the front door, passing her older brother.

"I'll be back later, Bobby!"


	13. The Frog & The Bribe

**Authors Note: Dear viewers, I thank you for reaching this fic to 8000 views in the barely 2 weeks it has been up. So to thank you all, I give you a second chapter today!**

After treating his arm wound and reapplying his makeup and making a phone call to two very closer people to him to arrange a meeting in the park, Lincoln made his way downstairs.

"Lincoln, hey are you going somewhere?"

Lincoln stopped short before he could get to the door, he saw his older sibling coming with Lola and Lana beside her, both twins wearing the gifts their older brother had gotten them. He had gotten Lana's hat repaired so it was no longer threatening to fall apart at any chance, and he had gotten Lola a bright pinkish red dress that she had been wanting for a long time. Lincoln thought the two looked good wearing them, and he would hate to see Lana upset over her favorite hat having to be tossed in the trash.

"Uhhh, yeah. Why?" Lincoln felt the twins hugging his legs again. That tended to mean either something was wrong or they were about to beg him for something.

"Will you please take us to the park, Lincoln?" they said in unison. The white haired boy raised an eyebrow, looking to Lori.

"Mom and Dad are gone with the car and… well…" Lori's words trailed off. Lincoln had a small smile on his face. He knew she was afraid of the small park nearby because a snake had scared her. Harmless or not, the slithering creature done enough of a surprise to make the older blonde girl not want to go anywhere near that park again.

"Um… well I was about to go to the park anyway… sure, I'd love to take you two," Lincoln agreed, and then received their joyous thanks and hugs. He chuckled and headed out the door, thinking it would be fine. The young boy wanted this to be private, but the meeting would have to be handled differently now, he thought he had an idea in mind. He could not say no to the twins, as it would draw more suspicion to him when they realized that he wanted to go to the park alone, especially with how much his family were concerned about him after blowing a lot of money on them all for their gifts.

"So you two like your presents?" Lincoln questioned while walking with them. The two were holding his hands, taking notice of the weird black widow and crab rings he had on one on each hand.

"Yeah! I can catch frogs in my hat again!" Lana gleefully exclaimed. Her hat, when it was falling apart, had let her down on that so many times. Lincoln had seen her catching frogs before, and she was surprisingly good at it, even with her own two hands, but the hat made it a lot easier.

"And now, I don't have to worry about falling over and can show my shoes off!" Lola stated. Beforehand, her long pink dress dragged the ground so much and covered her shoes, that made tripping common, and she had stopped caring about her footwear. It felt nice to be able to not worry about falling if she did not pay attention, and now the blonde girl's heels could be viewed by all as well.

"I'm glad you like the gifts. You two were probably the hardest to pick for," Lincoln laughed a little, showing that bright smile of his. Lana suddenly adverted her gaze to something, the siblings all stopping when their brother made them.

"Something wrong Lana?" the teenager saw her point to the other sidewalk across the road. Lincoln directed his eyes to what she had her finger aimed at. Under one of the off street lights, someone was standing there, leaned against the pole.

"Uhh?" Lincoln was confused. The person was an older girl who had to be in her late twenties at most, looking to be sleeping standing up, her head constantly bobbing from side to side like an eerie bobble head. She had a green frog hooded jacket with two googly eyes on top of it. For the bright warm summer weather, it was quite ridiculous attire that would bake most normal people into a fever fast.

"Should we see if she's okay?" Lola asked. Lincoln did not respond at first. The strange woman's hands were in her pockets, and he could not see her eyes or hair due to the hood over her head. He could also notice the lollipop stick in her mouth and the bag on her back that looked like it had a lot of baseball bat handles sticking out of it.

"She's probably just a tired softball coach," Lincoln brushed it off, despite something in the back of his head shouting at him that this woman was a threat, but as she was not in his direct path or near his young twin sisters, he would be fine. The three continued on their way to the park.

"So why were you going to the park for Lincoln?" Lola popped the question she had in mind since she had realized that he was going to head to the park alone.

"Your big brother is meeting up with someone very important…" Lincoln sighed out, "Clyde's coming too, but sorry, I need to know you two won't tell anyone else about this."

Right now, the preteen had no clue how he was conscious or how he was even having coherent thoughts. The lone brother had been awake far more than a day, now he was nearing the thirty-seven hour mark. If this was how long he could stay awake, he would challenge himself to stay awake for another three days.

"Is something bad going on? We saw Lynn come out of your room crying," Lana questioned. The two had caught the sports loving older sister exiting his bedroom, looking more upset than any amount of physical pain could equal. Lola thought she had been imagining things when she saw that herself.

"No, I mean… Yeah, something is going on. But me and Lynn just had a small fight, that's all. I'm going to the park so I can ask my girlfriend to teach me self defense…" Lincoln confessed. He swore their perfectly synced up squeals of joy rung out loud enough to shatter his eardrums.

"You have a girlfriend?!" they both practically shouted.

Whoops, the young boy thought, wishing the first people to figure this out from his family were not going to be two of the younger sisters. Only Clyde McBride knew about Lincoln's secret relationship, but now he felt it to be at the risk of being exposed to too many at once.

"Yes I do, and she's really tough… But I can't rely on her to protect me, or any of you either. So I need to learn how to fend for myself," Lincoln explained, not wanting any of his sisters involved in this mafia deal. The young boy would do whatever it took to make sure things stayed safe for them all. Lincoln had dug himself into a very deep trench of lies, but it felt nice to be honest about his relationship status that had been secret, long before this mafia ordeal had ever presented itself.

Lincoln had been dating his bully, but all the meddling from his family made it impossible to keep it public, or else they would constantly get in the way, ruin dates and generally make a mess out of everything. It also did not help that it was Bobby's younger sister whom Lincoln was dating, the same Bobby who was Lori's boyfriend, a weird but not too bad coincidence.

"But we're supposed to protect each other. That's what family does, right?" Lola asked, seeming more concerned about whoever had intimidated their brother so badly that he decided that he needed to be taught self defense better.

"Yeah! Just tell us who's messing with you, and we'll make sure they regret messing with the Louds!" Lana added with a toothy grin, her front top tooth still missing just like her twin sister's. Lincoln could not help but smile, going down on one knee and pulling them both into a hug.

"I love you both a lot… but please, will you not tell anyone about what I'm going to be doing at the park? Like, can you just lie and say I just played with you?" Lincoln requested, almost in a begging manner. His sisters felt more concerned. How he managed to make the situation worse every time he opened his mouth was beyond his comprehension.

"I don't know…" Lola murmured, looking away to the side. Everyone would be very happy to hear he had a girlfriend on one hand. But on the other hand, he was showing signs of being bullied again, but he made it out like he had no choice but to fight back. To think their brother was proud to attest to his pacifism.

"No way! Mom, dad, and everyone can help you if it's bad," Lana replied. The twins seemed to be silently casting momentary looks to one another as if seeking advice, not like either of them were known for lying, so the young boy could not use the route that they were making up anything they saw.

"Don't worry. Sometimes a big brother needs to give his sisters a reason to trust him, right? Maybe you'd be 'forgetful' if I gave you both something?" Lincoln asked, having thought ahead on this one. If bribery fell through, he was effectively up a creek without a boat, let alone the paddle.

"Oh gosh," the twins stared in awe at the two 100 dollar bills that Lincoln presented in his hand. They both being given one each, staring in shock at how much money they just received. That was half of the young boys pay from his first job, he had no care really since Nora did not want her pay back in any other way beyond hard labor. He assumed he would make that money back, and then some as long as he did a good job.

"Lincoln, we can't take this. You already gave up all your money on our gifts," Lana tried to return the money, but her older brother closed her hand around it, putting up that smile of this.

"Don't worry. My new job pays really good," Lincoln stood back up, "We should get to the park. I don't want to keep anyone waiting."

Lola only took the money because her brother seemed quite persistent about them keeping silent despite what their hearts were telling them. Their family would protect one another, and they knew Lincoln, if he needed help, he would come straight forward and say so. Soon enough, something familiar caught Lola's eye.

"Wait… didn't we just pass by her?" Lola chimed. Lincoln and Lana looked across the road, and once again that strange person was there, their position, body posture, and actions unchanged. Lincoln wondered if they had somehow gone in a full circle, but the young boy knew he was nowhere near tired enough to lose his sense of direction that badly.

"Come on, let's just hurry," Lincoln crouched down, picking them both up and turning on his heels. He headed in the opposite direction of the frog hooded person.

"Whoa! Lincoln, when'd you get so strong?!" Lana asked, surprised. Lola kept an eye on the person they had seen twice now. She swore she saw a scary grin creep across the mysterious figure's face.

"No idea! I just want us to get as far away from that person as we can!" Lincoln replied. That was the spur of the moment. He did not mind carrying the twins at this point. His energy was coming from nowhere, but he was able to move and somehow not pass out somehow.

"You two just hang on. I'll carry you to the park. That sound alright?" Lincoln offered to keep carrying them. Lola and Lana both agreed to let him carry them, as long as he did not mind. They were getting the same creepy vibe he was that they might indeed have been stalked momentarily, but neither of the blonde young girls could see the bat carrying individual who seemed to suffer from narcolepsy or feigned slumber to look less suspicious.

Lola and Lana had rested their heads on their big brothers shoulders, looking to one another with those same worried expressions. They only really found solace in the fact that their brother was still himself even if he was acting stranger than normal.

"Wonder how much more it will take to upset him?" a voice sounded from the figure who watched them vanishing in the distance.


	14. Tough Love

Lincoln had carried his sisters all the way to the park. His sisters had been asking him if he was alright. The makeup may cover the bags under his eyes, but did nothing else for his fake act. Lincoln reassured that nothing was wrong with him. He kept his eyes out for the woman in the frog hooded coat, but he had not seen her again thankfully since their last encounter.

"Haah… whew… here we are," Lincoln panted, letting Lola and Lana down while trying to catch his breath. It was obvious to the twins how shaken up he was from the mere suggestion that someone was possibly stalking them, yet it seemed like the presumption was thankfully wrong.

"You alright, Lincoln?" Lola requested, now starting to feel bad for requesting him to take them to the park. If they were not with him their older brother would not have made the rash decision to carry them in a hurry.

"Yeah, don't worry about me you two. I need to do more heavy lifting anyway," Lincoln reassured as he regained his breath. The young boy fixed his posture. The park was eerily empty, but the loud boy assumed that to a lot of people this heat was unbearable for them to handle, but the loud family had survived far worse temperatures outdoors before.

"You're the one who's making us worry to start with!" Lana tugged on his cheek as if to mimic their mother berating him. Lincoln kept a smile up over it until a familiar voice rung out.

"Hey, Dweeb!" they heard. The three heard the sound of a skateboard's wheels against the pavement, the dark skinned rider the same age as Lincoln stopping in front of them. She was wearing black jeans and a purple tank top for the searing summer heat.

"Ronnie Anne! It's great to see you…" Lincoln was ecstatic to see Ronnie Anne Santiago, who was known for being the toughest girl in his school until summer began. Now she was just another adolescent enjoying the few months they had free. The two had become a couple after some seemingly horrible advice from the loud sisters to Lincoln had actually worked out, but they had been keeping it secret.

"Earth to lame-o, you alright?" Ronnie questioned. Her boyfriend had suddenly decided to hug her, which was out of character for him. She hated surprise advancements. Lola and Lana were both shocked to recognize her as their brother's former bully.

"Ye-yeah! Sorry, a lots been going on lately," Lincoln apologized, breaking the embrace and taking a step back from her, letting her take her helmet off her black hair and pick up her skateboard. She then took notice of his sisters, her eyes looking up at him after the two twins. She and Lincoln had talked plenty before about not letting any of his sisters know. Lincoln rubbing his head nervously, knowing she wanted an explanation for this.

"I-I told Lola and Lana about us already, Ronnie. You can drop the harsher treatment to the usual amount," Lincoln told her she could drop the bully act. They weren't in school after all.

"Uh… hi," Lola greeted her awkwardly.

"Wow, Lincoln…" Lana added, not sure what more she could say.

"You two go on to the playground. I need to talk with Ronnie," Lincoln somewhat ordered in a nicer tone. The twins listened and decided to try and enjoy the time at the park, having fun like they wanted. Once they were gone, his girlfriend spoke up.

"Okay, Lincoln, what's going on? You look like you haven't slept in a day, and I thought we agreed to not tell anyone about us!" Ronnie Anne forced the conversation into full gear. Her white haired boyfriend expected this, but he wondered where Clyde was at the moment, he should have been here by now.

"Ronnie, calm down. First off, yes, I have not slept in a day, and I feel ready to pass out if I close my eyes for longer than five seconds. Second, I paid them to not tell the others. I had to bring them along. I really, really needed to see you in person," Lincoln explained. Ronnie Anne already was aware that he had informed his best friend of their relationship, but that was to be expected. She had an eyebrow raised, wondering what kept him up all night, let alone why he bribed his sisters to keep quiet. However the raven haired girl could tell her boyfriend was under heavy amounts of stress, despite his efforts to hide it.

"You told me that your safety was involved. Are you just being picked on?" Ronnie Anne took a seat on a park bench beside him, resting her possessions nearby.

"No, I'm not being picked on… well, I mean, I guess you could call it bullying to a severe degree," Lincoln once again had no idea how to classify it. People wanted him dead just for wearing animal rings with rubies on them. The young boy hated to imagine just how many wanted him dead at the moment, the vivid imagery of it alone brought nightmares to his mind.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Lincoln cried, feeling her digging her fist into his skull to snap him out of his trailed off thoughts.

"Sorry, your rambling was getting on my nerves. What does this have to do with me? I love you, but I'm not exactly going to fend off every last person that gives you a wedgie," Ronnie claimed her refusal to be his personal bodyguard all because they were together. The two had not even had much of a real date together yet. Lincoln really wanted to make up for that, thinking that might just be another one of the many doorways his mafia gig could open up for him.

"You're not going to have to, don't worry. …I just need you to teach me how to fight better," Lincoln stated.

"Teach you how to fight? Lincoln, isn't one of your sisters a black belt or something?" Ronnie Anne replied with a confused look. She was right. Lincoln knew that Lynn had actual professional training, which probably was a lot better in comparison if the two ever had to fight Lynn would probably win.

"I can't give that much time to something. I'm on borrowed time right now Ronnie," Lincoln sighed, rubbing his head, "That and I really can't make them anymore suspicious than they already are. I've seen you in fights, and you're the toughest I know."

Ronnie Anne stared at that pleading look in his eyes, which alone was a good sign how serious he was about being taught how to fight. Her boyfriend had watched her fight several people who tried to 'stand up' to her, and they all failed miserably.

"Again, why? What is going on? You're acting like your family hates your guts," Ronnie Anne declared. Lincoln was acting so timid about requesting anything from his sisters. The young teenager cast his gaze away slightly. They may not hate him, but he sure hated himself enough.

"I wanted to wait until Clyde was here Ronnie. Look, I'm going to show you something. I'm trusting you a lot with this secret of mine…" Lincoln warned her. Ronnie Anne was confused as she watched her boyfriend lick his thumb, before reaching down to his neck and beginning to rub away the makeup to the best of his ability. It took a few seconds before it sunk in, and his dark bruises were exposed. She had to cover her mouth as her eyes widened.

"Lincoln, are those choke marks?!" Ronnie Anne asked to the best of her ability. Lincoln noticed Lola and Lana looking over from the playground, having heard the surprised shouting. He waved, insisting everything was fine before returning his attention to his girlfriend.

"Yeah… I nearly got killed yesterday," Lincoln told the truth, lifting up his arm cover and showing the long gashing flesh wounds. It was too much for his girlfriend to take in at once. Seeing all this on Lincoln of all people was a horrific sight.

"How can you call whoever did this a bully?! This is an attempted murder you're talking about! A murderer! You don't need fighting lessons! You need to go to the police!" Ronnie's reaction was very well negative, and full of suggestions that she thought were logical, especially regarding an attempted murder that he could give full evidence about while he could. Every minute Lincoln spent was another minute those bruises healed, and therefore more evidence lost, but the slashes on his arm probably would last a lot longer than the bruises.

"I can't! I joined the mafia!" Lincoln stopped himself, his face pale.

"…I joined the mafia," Lincoln buried his face into his hands. Ronnie Anne noticed the two rings he dawned. He looked ready to break down and cry. It took all his strength and little energy he had to try and keep everything together.

"You can't be serious."

"I am. I'm working for the mafia. I borrowed money and now have to work that debt off. I learnt this an hour after I let one of these rings get stuck to my flesh," Lincoln claimed. Soon the second ring would be bonded with his finger, yet for some reason, he treated it as a minor problem compared to everything else.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart Lincoln! Why would you do something so stupid?!" Ronnie Anne felt like punching some sense into her boyfriend. The only thing stopping her, was the fact his true misery was already showing, despite how well things had turned out so far.

"Because… I don't think my life is worth much. I wanted to get my sisters presents to make up for me being such a burden…" he said, gripping his wounded arm with his hand, his heart racing while taking in deep breaths to try and keep calm.

"The worst thing is that I feel excited working for them, like I found a purpose in life," Lincoln never had his own future planned yet. He did not want to admit the ultimatum he had, that he either died working for the mafia or continued on his path of ever growing depression and feeling like a burden to his family. The only reason he had confessed so much to his sisters lately was because the young boy had to tell them all something, to get them away from finding out the big truth of it all.

"Gah!" he groaned in pain, feeling a hard punch hit his left cheek that had knocked him to the ground. Ronnie Anne got on top of him, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and yanked his face to hers.

"You are the biggest idiot I have ever known! …But I'll teach you what I know, but this really isn't something you can do alone Lincoln," Ronnie agreed to teach him what she knew, even if it would be a glorified street fighting style of combat, "But I want something, too."

"An-anything, Ronnie… anything for you," Lincoln felt scared, but he was glad at least to know she was going to help him, she had only punched him to snap him out of his own weird thoughts. Ronnie pointed to his ring.

"I want to help you. If you aren't gonna go to anyone for help, then I'm going to go with you to help," she demanded. Lincoln was not sure how to feel. His girlfriend loved him enough to actually join the mafia herself to help him out, but the white haired boy was debating this in his mind heavily. There still was time to take off the crab ring, the ruby shining slightly in the claw of the tiny crustacean.

"Ronnie… I dunno… I can't let you hurt yourself for me," Lincoln claimed. Before he knew it, the crab ring was off his finger and in the palm of his girlfriend's hand.

"Either you let me help or I go straight to the police and your family!" Ronnie Anne threatened, he was annoyed but it was still nice to know how much she did care.

"O-okay, fine! …thanks, Ronnie…You're the best girlfriend in the world," he agreed with a bright smile appearing across his face. It may have been quite a volatile argument, but Lincoln was glad to know she was going to do whatever it took to help him.

"What's going on over there?" Lana asked. At the top of a metal castle, Lola was trying to look through some binoculars that were set up there to be used to view the area from up high. The two were trying to spy on their older brother from there after hearing his and Ronnie's loud outbursts. The two had been trying to see what was going on, but the twins were out of hearing range.

"I… don't know. It looks like she hit him, but he sure seems happy about it," the beauty lover said. If this was what dating was like, then it was weird. She hated to imagine what Lori and Bobby did. She stepped off, letting Lana have a turn viewing, hoping she could read the situation better.

"Uhh… Lola, he looks like he just got a lot of energy back from nowhere," Lana said to her twin. She watched as Lincoln took the ring from Ronnie Anne's hand and sliding it onto her hand for her, trying to show some kind of romantic gratitude. Lola had not seen her brother so happy and relieved before, like Ronnie had took a huge weight off his shoulders.

"Wait, let me see!" Lola shoved her twin off when she saw the distant motions. Lana groaned, half-hung off the ledge and having caught her hat from falling. She sat back up when she heard her twin gasp

"Did he get punched again?" Lana asked, wondering if she had missed out on another minor fight, but instead all she saw were the young couple hugging, and eventually kissing.

"They're kissing! …and a lot…" Lola stated. Lana leaned over to peek through the binoculars, having given up on taking turns and opting into them both just getting one lens to look through.

"Maybe they're getting married?" Lana asked. Not like either would know from what little they knew on the two's relationship. They did not even know how long they had been together. The passionate kiss wasn't nearing an end. Lola was starting to wonder as well if their brother had proposed.

"Oh gosh… Lana, look at the tree behind them," the blonde tiara wearing girl let Lana get both lenses to see what had startled her twin. She saw the all too familiar woman with the bag on her back full of baseball bats. They couldn't miss the person or her frog hood. The scary individual just stood there, watching from the shadows of the tree, but she was not making any effort to hide. Her hands were still in her pockets like they were glued there.

"What are your sisters doing?" Ronnie Anne asked as the moment ended, Lincoln still holding her hands as he looked at the metal castle his younger sisters were playing on. He noticed them waving and looking rather panicked. He turned around to what they were trying to point him to.

"Oh no… it's her again…" Lincoln's heart skipped a beat. The same frog-hooded woman stood there. His hopes of the person not being a stalker were gone.

"Who?" Ronnie Anne quirked an eyebrow, her attention focused on the woman.

"I have no idea. She followed us all the way to the park. I don't know what she wants…" Lincoln explained, doubting this was a random beggar hoping for a donation.

"Is she even awake?" the dark skinned girl questioned. Once again the hooded figure acted sleepy, only now her head was not bobbing side to side. The strange woman suddenly began to walk toward them. Lincoln stepped in front of Ronnie, ready to protect her.

"Ge-get back! I'm warning you!" Lincoln shouted. The person however paid it no mind, hopping over the park bench, the two stepping back. If the frog hood wearing girl wasn't carrying tons of baseball bats on her back, they would be less afraid. She tilted her head back, revealing her half-glazed, green tinted eyes, and short and stubby red hair.

She swallowed the lollipop she had in her mouth whole before licking her lips slowly. Her eyes showed not much life in them, almost like she was in another world of her own. Her eyes were not opening any more than the half-lazy glazed appearance they had.

"Mhm… you two look ripe with life…and I'm very… very… veeeeerrrrrry hungry…" her words shook the two lovers to their core, her weirdly calm tone did not help.


	15. The Mad Batter

"You know, every day of my life that passes, I see that everyone and everything around me is insane, myself included," Lincoln thought to himself. Right now he was in an odd position, sitting at a picnic table in the park. Lola and Lana were sitting across from him and Ronnie Anne was right beside him. The picnic table was covered in empty soda cans and empty bags and wrappers of food, and the four of them had only eaten a little. The young boy had a small cloth wrapped around his neck to cover up the choke marks from his sisters, because he had removed the makeup.

"You sure she isn't going to eat us?" Lola asked nervously. Lana was in the same boat of worry herself. At the end of the picnic table sat that strange woman. Her frog hood was pulled down, now exposing her short ginger hair to the sunlight and her very pale skin. The bag full of baseball bats rested beside her. Everyone watched her as she was eating her twentieth candy bar. The vending machines near the bathrooms were half empty, and she was the one to consume them all.

"So you're a co-worker of mine?" Lincoln tried to get some clarity on this. He was glad to know that she was a semi-friendly person, she wore a ton of ruby red animal rings, and topaz machinery rings on her hands, as well as another type which were flowers and plants with emeralds in them.

"Yes! I'm Maddison Badder! You can call me the Mad Batter like everyone else though," Maddison introduced herself very late. Lincoln was more concerned that she wore rings from three different groups. It made it impossible to tell who she worked for. All he knew was that if she reached for any of those baseball bats, he was going to jump on her without hesitation. However, the name Maddison Badder sounded very familiar to him.

"Thanks for deciding not to eat us!" Lana thanked Maddison. When the weird frog hooded girl had first appeared in the park, she had said that she was starving and how they all looked 'ripe' to eat. Lincoln however defused the situation fast, when he made a witty remark about the vending machines they were at, it was enough to satisfy her, even if she had consumed half the contents of the machine.

"You four decided to stuff my mouth with something more delicious than flesh after all," she laughed. Lincoln wanted to say something, but Maddison quickly hopped onto the table, knocking all the trash off.

"And I've heard a lot about you," she hummed, her face being very close to Lincoln's.

"Wha-what?" Lincoln nervously requested, hoping to keep the mafia stuff secret from the twins. How he had a job now was all they needed to know. Ronnie Anne placed her hand on the Mad Batter's face, shoving her back. Maddison rolled backwards, falling off the picnic table and bashing her head on the seat during the fall.

"Yep! Lincoln the dummy!" Maddison poked her head up from the picnic table side with no care for the damage, almost like she felt nothing.

"How did my boyfriend get a tagline like that?" Ronnie asked, watching Maddison return to her seat, letting out a long loud belch before laying back a little.

"Well, the rumors are he takes a lot of abuse no matter what and no matter how severe. He just loses some of his stuffing!" Maddison stated the rumors spreading around work. Nora had told everyone what had happened, but one person telling others the story would change a lot, and Lincoln wound up more as a punching bag according to them.

"Oh, thank goodness…" Lincoln sighed in relief when he saw a familiar African American boy in glasses rushing over to them, having finally arrived to the park.

"Clyde, where have you been? We were supposed to meet up a lot earlier," Lincoln asked, his friend having finally regained his breath.

"Sorry, sorry! Someone bent and twisted a lot of the signs so I got lost," Clyde apologized. The signs that normally named streets were either turned completely backwards or missing, leaving the preteen to guess which way to go, and that went very poorly for him.

"That was me!" Maddison chimed with a hand high in the air.

"…why would you mess with signs?" Lana's eyes narrowed.

"Isn't that illegal?" Lola added. Maddison looked to them with that oddly glazed over look. She had still came off as creepy whenever she smiled.

"I was bored. Nothing's illegal if you're doing it to cure boredom," she cackled. Lincoln rubbed his head sorely. He would have to fill in Clyde on the details later due to him being very late. The young boy was getting fed up with the bat carrier already now that she was giving pure lies to his siblings.

"Clyde, I hate to ask you to do this, but I really need you to take Lola and Lana back home," Lincoln explained what he needed, his best friend raising an eyebrow.

"Dude, you made it out to be a lot more a dire situation on the phone…" Clyde stated, disappointed in his friend but also confused. Maybe Lincoln had made something up to just trick him out here, but he would never do that.

"Clyde, please, I'll explain later, but right now I really need you to do this. And keep your eyes peeled for anyone wearing rings that look like plants, electronics or animals," Lincoln begged. He knew that his weird co-worker was here for more than just a friendly visit. He was more afraid to find out that reason, but unfortunately had no choice but to find out.

"Alright, Lincoln. I'll do it as a bro favor, but next time just tell me what's happening on the phone, because you kind of set this up to be some weird over dramatic meet up," Clyde stated, looking unamused, especially after having gotten lost. Lincoln nervously nodded, having realized how he had made things seem worse for him. He felt four familiar arms hugging his legs again.

"We'll see you at home, right Lincoln?" Lola asked, worried about not seeing her brother for over a day again. He was the core of the family keeping things balanced whenever they needed to be fixed.

"Please? It isn't the same without you around…" Lana added, the twins feeling their heads getting rubbed in reassurance from their older brother.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm coming straight home when I finish up. Just remember our deal," Lincoln told them, reminding them to not tell anyone else of what had happened at the park. The twins agreed before they broke their embraces and left, following Clyde off to let him take them back home.

"Boy, you really haven't changed much, for someone under a lot of stress," Ronnie Anne commented. Normally that would be a good thing, but she had to wonder how stable her boyfriend exactly was, but if he had any issues, he would tell them.

"Thanks, Ronnie… so Maddison-"

"Mad Batter!"

"Mad Batter," he held his head in annoyance, "Can you tell me what you want with me now? I know you didn't stalk me and my sisters here and messed with those signs for fun."

"Aw, you're no fun… I wanted to see if you'd respond to me aggressively or passively! You did neither! I've never seen someone ignore me when I was stalking them before," Maddison responded as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a bag full of lollipops. Ronnie Anne kept her eyes on the mentally crazy woman to make sure she was not up to anything. Maddison pulled out one lollipop and put it in her mouth, then pocketed the bag again. The look in her eyes seemed to go back to that weird look like she was in her imaginary dreamland.

"You didn't answer about the signs," Ronnie reminded. The red haired girl had her head tilted slightly as she gazed at her new co-worker.

"Because people were coming to the park to kill you," Maddison simply answered, pointing to the young boy. The chirping crickets and blowing wind covered the moment long silence.

"Wha…what?" Lincoln hoped she was making that up. He watched her roll back off the picnic table seat. When her feet touched the ground, she stood back up straight, barely able to keep standing.

"Some guys talking about a walk in freezer. I don't know why they were so mad. It sounds like a nice place to be right now. I mean, do you feel how hot it is?" Maddison asked. Lincoln still could not believe what he was hearing.

"Take off the stupid hood and maybe it'd feel cooler?" Ronnie Anne suggested while getting up and going to her boyfriend. Whatever was going to happen to him, he was no longer alone at least, but that was not much solace.

"I thought those two were arrested! Me and David knocked them out in the restaurant, how do you think I got these wounds?!" Lincoln spoke in a state of shock and panic, showing the long gashes on his forearm as the sign of that night being embedded in his memory. He could not believe they weren't in jail. He understood why she messed up the signs now though, to throw anyone trying to get to the park off for a little while.

"David… David… David? Oh! You mean the Chain Puffer?" Maddison beamed, "Yeah he's real weird… one time we were playing cards and someone crashed their Ferrari through the wall, and we…"

"Whatever. Can you tell us who you work for first of all?" Ronnie Anne had long since gathered what the rings represented, especially after watching her boyfriend stare at the frog hooded girl's hands for so long.

"I work for everyone! I love to help with punishing those who mess up too. When I cut someone's finger off, I take their ring! I can just slip'em on and off as much as I want, because they already have skin merged with them!" Maddison laughed quite hard, recalling it as well. Lincoln doubted he could call her a co-worker now if she was actively working for everyone. As if to prove her point, she was sliding three rings on and off and swapping them around like a magic act.

"Ew… whatever, thanks for protecting me, I guess. Did those guys say anything about David?" Lincoln requested, but he did find it funny that David's apparent tagline or nickname was the Chain Puffer. It sounded silly, but he was pretty intense and never stopping with those cigarettes.

"No, they didn't. They told me to just stay at the warehouse and guard the hostage… ohhh! That's who that was! I wondered who I had made out with against their will earlier that made me smell like cigarettes!" Maddison replied. Lincoln was so lost mentally now to have found out a co-worker of his who had saved his life was a hostage to those topaz lunatics. He tried to ignore the comment about forcibly making out.

"Sick… I mean- Lincoln! Hey!" Ronnie Anne caught him. Her boyfriend almost collapsed on the ground. She helped him sit down, noticing his eyes fluttering quite heavily, trying to stay conscious.

"Wuh? Sorry… I haven't had any sleep in nearly two days," Lincoln apologized while rubbing his eyes. His brain was beginning to forcibly try and shut off. Normally it would react to certain cues like darkness, lying still or keeping his eyes closed for a long time, but since Lincoln had gone a lot longer time than most people normally could handle, his brain was trying to force him to sleep, his body being slower to respond than an hour ago.

"Come on, I need to go help David…" Lincoln said, trying to stand up, but his legs refused to cooperate. His energy was gone. Ronnie Anne had to shake him to make sure he did not black out again.

"Just call someone else to go save him, Lincoln. You need to go home and sleep. Your body isn't meant to go without sleep this long," Ronnie Anne insisted. She considered going alone, but had no clue what she would be getting into for someone she did not even know.

"Bu-but… I owe David. He did save me," Lincoln replied. He had to repay that debt, if David was still alive. The two then noticed a hand full of lollipops presented to his face.

"Pick your flavor," Maddison said. The young couple looked up at her, wondering what this was for.

"What? Why?" Lincoln asked hesitantly, taking the lollipop that was strawberry flavored. Out of all the things he had been offered, this was probably one of the better of them. Ronnie Anne tried to take one as well, only for the Mad Batter to pull her hand away, only letting the boy have one.

"You need energy. I haven't slept in a month all thanks to these special little pops that the emerald guys hooked me up with," she explained to them. Hearing this sounded believable, considering how insane this ginger girl was. Going an entire month without sleep sounded impossible, but somehow when she talked about it, they believed it easily.

"Uh… alright?" Lincoln had no clue what to think as he took the wrapping off, seeing the red lollipop with white substance filling the inside. He put the candy in his mouth, and he instantly felt a shockwave of horrible taste across his taste buds. His eyes widened, standing up and taking it out of his mouth.

"Jeez! What is this?! It tastes like… gym socks full of dirt," Lincoln gagged out, when something felt different.

"Wow… Lincoln, are you okay?" Ronnie Anne asked, seeing him standing like this and no longer having the same posture or signs of tiredness affecting him as badly as before.

"Yeah… I mean, I feel good… huh… it actually worked," Lincoln said. The taste was horrible, but the lollipop seemed to do the trick of waking him up and giving him energy. He put it back in his mouth despite his taste buds' protest.

"Goody! Now we should leave here before those guys come to kill you. Come on! I'll take you to where the Chain Puffer is," the Mad Batter turned on her heel with the baseball bat filled bag on her back. Lincoln was ready to follow, but his girlfriend stopped him.

"Lincoln, what if this is a trap? She said she works for everyone. She could be making this whole thing up, I mean look at how crazy she is." Ronnie Anne suggested that they need to double check this. She still needed to teach him how to fight like he asked.

"Ronnie, everything is crazy if it involves any of the mafia groups. Welcome to Nora's mafia," Lincoln informed her. The jobs seemed crazy, but the more horrific part was the chance of being attacked by enemy groups. Ronnie Anne figured she still had to keep a check on him and make sure he didn't go ending his own life because of one crazy person lying.

"Well, let's go save him then," Ronnie Anne picked up her skateboard and helmet and put them on her back. Her board had an attachable strap over the shoulder to make it easier to carry. She put her hand in his, Lincoln smiling as the two hurried off to catch up to the Mad Batter since she had continued walking and had nearly left the park without them. The loud boy felt a new warm feeling in his heart, which he was glad to have again.

"Sure hope David doesn't do anything stupid…"


	16. Mansion

Clyde had done just as his best friend, so close that he almost considered him a brother, told him. It was weird how quiet the twins were. The young boy was starting to feel the atmosphere of things sinking in. Life had changed a lot for someone in the loud family, and it was no surprise that it would affect everyone else as well.

"So everything okay at home?" Clyde tried to pierce the silence to the best of his ability while keeping his spectacle covered eyes out for anyone shady. The black haired boy could not tell easily who were wearing rings on their hand, and he couldn't just go being paranoid of anyone wearing a shiny object around their fingers, but he was going to keep a look out and do as his best friend said and make sure the twins got home safe.

"It's… weird," Lana said. It was very mixed on one hand. Their brother had gotten them all gifts, but it cost him what the Loud sisters thought was all of his savings.

"Ever since that weird woman took Lincoln the other day, he has come back kind of different…" Lola stated. She presumed it to just be the aftershock of the situation bothering their older brother, but Lincoln had not gone to anyone requesting help. The twins as well as the rest of the family, told themselves he would reach to them all for help if he needed it, but now they felt that the statement was becoming gradually more false.

"Oh yeah, a Child Protective Services worker… I heard about that when I bumped into Lori at the store with my parents," Clyde claimed. It was a strange shopping coincidence when his family bumped into a depressed Lori while she had gone to get groceries, and she informed them of what occurred. Clyde was completely infatuated with Lori, or at least he had been. He still had strong feelings for the blonde older woman, but Lincoln had a quite harsh reality check for his best friend a few months ago. In the end, Clyde found it better to contest and suppress his feelings.

"That woman was really mean. She made mom cry," Lana looked miserable from recalling that day. It was so recent but felt a lot older for some reason. They could see the Loud house coming into view.

"Well, look, you two can take it easy. Lincoln's pretty resilient when it comes to toughing things out. As long as you all support him, things will work out. I don't know what exactly is happening yet, but it must be important if Lincoln is keeping it secret," Clyde reassured them, well aware of how supportive Ronnie Anne was being at the moment.

"Thanks, Clyde!" the twins said in unison, their bright smiles returning. Clyde was just surprised that his words had actually been that uplifting. He saw the Loud house finally nearby. The walk felt a lot longer than it should have.

"Do you want to come inside?" Lola offered to let him come into their home, wanting to be a kind guest, especially to someone who was nice a lot to their family.

"Sorry, but I think I should try to get ahold of Lincoln. I really would like to know what's going on as much as you do," Clyde declined their offer. He felt like something was off. Whether it was something around or something going on, he felt unnerved. After a brief goodbye, Clyde headed off down the route they came from. Lola and Lana disappointed that he could not spend some time here, but they headed into their home, glad to have some comfort and reassurance for their brother again.

"We're home!" Lola announced as the door closed behind them. Everything looked normal thus far. Their younger sister Lisa, who was looking at weird drawings of designs on a notepad, noticed them. The twins knew that stumped look that indicated her cluelessness on what to work on next.

"Welcome back. Where's Lincoln?" Lisa tried to ignore her current mental block. She had sharper pair of eyes and ears when it came to lies, and the twins were well aware of that. They hated to lie, but it was for their brother after all.

"Lincoln said he had to run an errand, and he'd be back soon," Lana responded, Lola glad her sister had that covered, because her mind was empty due to how sudden they got put on the spot.

"Hm… I see," the young genius brought her attention back to the notes. Her mental block had taken her priority in her mind. The twins separated to do their own thing, wanting to get some rest since they had no idea when Lincoln would return, and just hoped everything was alright with him and his girlfriend.

"I thought you said this was a warehouse…" Lincoln grumbled silently with the lollipop still in his mouth. He just began getting used to the taste. At the moment he was in an uncomfortable position once again, standing beside the wall of an old mansion in the rich part of Royal Woods. Ronnie Anne was standing on his shoulders, trying to stay balanced. Maddison in turn stood on her shoulders, trying to reach the top of the wall with her best effort.

"Well, the basement he's in is as big as a warehouse!" the Mad Batter replied. The top of the wall was just out of reach for her that it was starting to be quite a bother. She tried to figure out what to do.

"Do you think the ants could help us?" Maddison asked the young couple. The two looked to each other, wondering if that was a rhetorical joke or if she was serious. They presumed the latter.

"I'm just gonna take a guess and say they're busy..." Ronnie Anne flatly replied, but then felt the insane girls sharp cleats on her skull, "Ow!"

"It's a good thing you two have freakishly large heads!" Maddison said. Now she was on top of the wall. She grabbed Ronnie by her arm and pulled her up, helping her over. Lincoln could not deny that comment at least, he then was grabbed by his hair.

"Ow! Ow! That hurts! Jeez!" Lincoln cried before finally reaching the top of the wall, panting and holding his aching scalp. He looked at the yard, the tall grass looming around with the hedges that were in desperate need of a trimming.

"Well we're on the wall… now how do we get down?" Lincoln asked. Ronnie Anne was already down there. She had gotten eased down by Maddison.

"The same way we got up! Painfully!"

"Wait, what?! Ahh!" Lincoln was shoved off by her and fell, his girlfriend caught him in her arms before he could hit the ground. She kept her balance, the two exhaling in relief at his safety.

"Good thing you're light, lame-o," Ronnie smiled, feeling him hug her in gratitude before letting him stand back up. They saw Maddison fall off the wall and flop face first into the ground, her lower body being so bent backwards it was slightly over her head.

"Jeez! Are you okay?" Lincoln asked. That looked pretty nasty to him. He wondered if they needed to call for paramedics now, but they saw the Mad Batter fix her position and hop back to her feet, a few of her baseball bats lying around that had fallen out of her bag.

"Sorry, what? Short term memory loss! Long term brain damage! Fun!" the older woman happily chimed. It was like nothing fazed her.

"O…kay…" Ronnie Anne wanted to get this rescue mission over with, because she wanted so far away from Maddison. Knowing they were co-workers was unnerving to her.

"You said you were supposed to guard David. Does that mean there are no other guards here?" Lincoln questioned, thinking maybe this would be a simple walk in and out. David might just be left alone in the house because the two insane topaz members from the restaurant the other night were hunting him. The preteen crouched down, reaching for the thin light metal bat, about to pick it up.

"Don't touch that!" Maddison came over and quickly took it. He noticed that creepy look on her face again.

"Unless you want to possibly catch a disease," Maddison commented while sliding it back into the bag once again. Crickets took over as the only sound, Lincoln and Ronnie looking moderately disgusted.

"Are you saying…?" Ronnie Anne gagged.

"You… the bat?" Lincoln was starting to think Mad Batter was a lot more than a fan of bats.

"Yep! Sometimes you just need something cold in you to get the fun of the day started!" she laughed slightly maniacally, before continuing off to the front door of the mansion. Lincoln and Ronnie followed, mentally trying to drown out the horrid images in their head. Lincoln still felt like he had heard the name Maddison Badder before. It sounded so familiar, but he never recalled meeting anyone this insane in his life, even more so than his own family.

"Oh right, I should probably warn you. The white stuff in the energy pop I gave you? There's a small side-effect to it, but that's the best part," Maddison forewarned. Lincoln now was having second thoughts of having the candy in his mouth at all, all of which she had gotten a constant supply of from the emerald flowers group. Lincoln was more presuming they were a research and development type of business.

"I'll give it a try, I guess," Lincoln reluctantly said. So far the lollipop had only disappointed him in taste. Otherwise it was giving him energy. The three were now trying to find a way to open the door to this old mansion.

"All the windows are boarded up," Ronnie Anne claimed. The somewhat damaged glass windows were covered in cobwebs and dust, and evenly placed planks of wood.

"Maybe we can go around the back?" Lincoln suggested. If the back door and other windows around the mansion were in the same condition, they might be able to find a cellar door. They suddenly the loud sound of glass breaking and clattering onto the boards below them.

"What are you doing?!" Lincoln saw Maddison standing there, a thicker metal bat in her hands that was being used to bash aside what little glass was left in the frame.

"Getting us inside," the Mad Batter replied.

"I know we're inevitably gonna be found by bad guys, but can we at least get into the place before alerting everyone around to our presence?" Ronnie Anne requested. Maddison shrugged, the googly eyes atop her head being more focused than her.

"The only people that were here was me. The chain puffer and those two guys that wanted to murder the dummy," Maddison claimed. She was supposed to be the one guarding the hostage, but she had gotten bored and wanted to meet Lincoln, the talk of Nora's mafia, so much. The young couple held their heads, both feeling the same migraine setting in.

"Just… ugh… I guess keep going. We're already gonna make more noise anyway," Lincoln sighed. The window probably was going to be one of the louder parts of this, so anyone inside the mansion were probably preparing for their arrival.

"Yay! Bashy time!" the Mad Batter did not take a second thought before bashing the boards in the window, leaving an indent from her bat. The two watched her keep hitting the boards on the window, each hit weakening and damaging the boards, the sound of splintering wood and creaking nails trying to withstand the assault echoed.

"Haaah… whoo… these are sturdy," Maddison panted. Lincoln took a look at the current situation. The wooden planks were broken, but it seemed they had put up an extra layer of the planks to keep them together and add extra cover.

"They really don't want anyone getting in…" Lincoln commented, scratching his head for ideas. The second floor had plenty of not boarded windows, but they had no chance to reach them, even if they tried to stack on top of one another.

"Hey, you can't feel pain, right?" Ronnie Anne inquired.

"Yes-sir-ee!" Maddison nodded. The young couple had figured out pain was something the Mad Batter either ignored or couldn't feel. Lincoln had no clue how that would help the situation.

"The energy pops help but I have a nerve problem, I can feel heat and cold but for some reason I just was born without the ability to feel pain...Which is a great thing by the way! I like to challenge people to hit me as hard as they can with my bats sometimes. One time my buddy Keith took a swing at me, and I got hit so hard…" Maddison's mouth was covered by Ronnie, Lincoln mentally thanking his girlfriend for that.

"And you like doing dangerous exciting things?" Ronnie Anne asked, the Mad Batter nodding again, "Then hurl yourself at this until it breaks. It would be pretty impressive to see someone do that."

Ronnie pointed a thumb at the damaged planks of wood, polishing the Mad Batter's practically suicidal levels of thrill-seeking by giving a suggestion. The inability to feel pain just gave her more reason to not even think before doing anything.

"Wait, no way! We need you to be conscious," Lincoln argued. If she was rendered unconscious and given a major concussion, they would have to get her medical help. No matter how insane and scary she was, the young boy could not condone this. Unfortunately his words fell on deaf ears.

"Mad Batter… diiiiive!" Maddison's war cry sounded, and the harsh cries of broken wood a knocked over chair followed, dust kicking up from the window. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne ran straight over, the way open for them to go through.

"Hey, hey! You alright?!" Lincoln called out. Maddison just lay on the floor of the darkened mansion. He climbed through the window, his girlfriend following right behind him. Ronnie Anne was surprised by how hard the lunatic had actually done this.

"Is she okay?" Ronnie Anne questioned, noticing some bruising on the dust-covered Maddison. Lincoln checked for her.

"…yeah, she's just sleeping now…" Lincoln claimed. The Mad Batter was alright with no real wounds one her. The two thought this was a good thing that she was getting some sleep. It might really help her insanity at this point.

"Well, she said David was in the basement. Let's just go get him and get out," Ronnie Anne remembered what they had been told earlier. For now they could leave the hooded girl to slumber here, and they could try to wake her up or carry her out once they freed their co-worker.

"Let's go then I guess. I should call Nora and let her know that… wuh?" Lincoln held his head in annoyance when feeling his back pocket. His cellphone was gone. He assumed that during his struggle with Lynn when she discovered his arm wounds, his phone had slid out of his pocket.

"Lost your phone?" Ronnie Anne quirked an eyebrow.

"Lost my phone…" Lincoln repeated with a sheepish smile, glad his girlfriend was here to make things easier. Having two phones was a lot better than one for convenience to make getting help easier.

"Can I use yours?" The white haired boy requested from his girlfriend. She gave her phone to him gladly. Lincoln tried to turn it on but there was no reaction, "Huh…?"

"Oh… battery must've died. Dumb thing can barely hold a charge anymore for longer than a few hours before I have to recharge it," Ronnie Anne explained. She had gotten this phone maybe a year or so ago, but unfortunately one slip of the hand and it was somehow damaged, and she never really found it necessary to get a new battery for it.

"Alright then… let's hurry before anyone shows up," Lincoln returned the phone to his love, and the two went to try and find a way down to the basement.


	17. Fighting Lesson

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne spent twenty minutes looking around the mansion for access to the basement. Unfortunately the task that they at first thought was going to be a simple cakewalk had gone off the rails. Lincoln was starting to get used to his streak of luck because he was barely getting a break thus far.

"You find anything, Ronnie?" Lincoln asked while brushing some dust off himself. It felt nice to not be in his orange uniform anymore.

"I thought I did, but when I opened the door, it turned out to just be another way upstairs," Ronnie Anne answered. The way to get to the basement felt practically hidden, yet there seemed to be a nearly dozen ways to get to the second floor. The mansion did have a lot of furniture and items left behind by the previous owner's, but they were not here to go on a personal tour. Each minute that passed was a minute gone. Maddison still was in the same place snoring, that same creepy smile on her face looking better with her eyes closed t least.

"She probably knew," Lincoln rubbed his head. Ronnie Anne had immense regrets for having the co-worker of theirs throw herself at the boards until they broke. Not being able to feel pain did not mean the body was invincible. It meant that Maddison would have to constantly check herself to make sure she was alright.

"I hate to say this, but we're going to have to wait for the kidnappers to get back. If there is a secret way to the basement, they would know… and if Mad Batter over there hasn't actually slept in a month, then I don't think she'll be waking up soon," Ronnie Anne explained. The basement was not easy to reach, and it appeared they were forced into this position alone. There was some comfort for the preteen couple had prior when they knew they did have an adult armed to the teeth with baseball bats around to guard them, but after the infection comment outside, they felt nowhere near brave enough to take them for themselves.

"Ronnie, if you want to leave, you can. I don't want you getting hurt," Lincoln offered, only to get punched in his arm. Normally that wouldn't hurt too much, but he swore she aimed for his wounded arm on purpose there.

"I told you already! I'm not going to back out of this, and if it's true what you've told me, this ring will be stuck to me permanently tomorrow!" Ronnie Anne reminded him. She hated to imagine him carrying this burden alone, especially if he was too afraid of requesting help from his family or authorities. Lincoln gained that smile she loved to see on his face.

"Heh… I love you," Lincoln was glad to know their relationship was okay, but was worried how it was going to be put to the test of all this stress of working for the mafia and being under constant threat of assault and bodily harm. He offered a small kiss if she wanted, since Ronnie Anne hated sudden advancements, but before they could do anything, a knocking on the door sounded.

"Ey Maddy, you in there? The door is stuck again," they heard. Lincoln recognized that voice. It was the skinnier of the two weird topaz lunatics from the restaurant.

"Come on!" Lincoln quietly insisted, taking Ronnie Anne's hand in his and running off to the nearby gathering room, dragging her behind him. He was glad he had energy at the moment, and was very grateful for the energy lollipop he had received earlier.

"Under here," Ronnie Anne pointed to a small closet underneath the stairwell, the door wide open. The couple stepped into it. While they hated to leave Maddison alone, but she was with the two before, so hopefully they would not find out the situation. It took both of them to close the door, the hinges being so rusted and old that they had not been moved in a decade. The two kept their eyes on the front area through some of the many holes in the wood.

"Whoa! Danny, looks like someone's already been here," the skinnier man spoke. Danny, the other fellow, hopped through the window, crouching down and rolling the Mad Batter onto her back to check on her.

"Good news, Jackson, looks like she isn't too badly battered up," Danny replied, judging by how Maddison's chest was rising and falling, matching her snoring. By seeing the two who gave him and David the injuries, Lincoln felt a small spark of anger in his heart.

"Aw, no… don't tell me the hostage escaped?!" Jackson wondered aloud, before his hat got pulled down tightly over his face, muffling his panicked rambling.

"Calm down, ya idiot! Someone broke in, not out. Guessing it was just some guy from Nora or Lazzerson's groups who decided to attack her," Danny insisted that this could be dismissed as a random assault, but it confused him that Maddison was alive.

"Looks like another idiot made the mistake of leaving a fight unfinished…" Danny then commented, finding it stupid that after knocking the other person unconscious that the victor would leave that person alive, instead of finishing them off.

"Don't forget Danny, those two idiots that beat us up pretty much spared us," Jackson reminded, watching Danny curl his hand into a fist before striking the nearby wall hard enough to break through it, but the house was old so that was not really too impressive, a light tap with minor force could probably damage the wall.

"If I see that little rat again, I'll make sure he's dead with my own bare hands, especially since you for some reason tried to toy with them when I specifically told you not to! I told you to kill!" Danny shouted. Ronnie Anne did not like hearing her boyfriend's name having a vendetta on it, but she wondered how he beat them in a fight. Jackson could not deny that he himself messed up badly when he did not kill Lincoln on the spot when he had the chance.

"Let's go check on the smoker. Seriously, every time I go down there, he asks for a cigarette no matter how many times I tell him no or punch him. Guy's so obsessed with them he looks like he's suffering withdrawal symptoms…" Jackson stated. Lincoln certainly agreed on David's addiction to the cigarettes, but it sounded a lot worse than he imagined.

"Okay. You go pull the lever upstairs. I'll get the refrigerator out of the way," Danny ordered. His topaz partner nodded and went upstairs. The two were operating outside of their boss's permission or guidance. This was just for pure revenge at this point, as both were hoping to use David to draw out Lincoln or any other Ruby animal ring wearers.

"We need to get them while they're separated…" Ronnie Anne stated. Her boyfriend looked to her.

"Alright. Let's move when he goes to the kitchen," Lincoln agreed, the young couple waiting for the moment they heard one of the topaz machinery ring wearers begin to head upstairs, his feet making the floorboards beneath him creak loudly. The two could hear the other man straining with the sound of something scraping loudly against the floor of the room. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne climbed out, beginning to make their way upstairs.

"This is where you're going to learn to fight. Just follow what I say and you'll be able to handle it," Ronnie Anne claimed. Lincoln was unsure what to say in response, but nodded in agreement. The two went and made their way upstairs to the second floor.

"There he is," the teenage boy pointed out, having just caught Jackson entering into one of the bedrooms. The two went as quickly and quietly as they could to the doorway before leaning in to see what he was doing. The man had approached the dresser of the room and grabbed a candelabrum that was hanging on the side of the wall above it.

"This place is so stupid. Who puts a switch to unlock and lock a basement upstairs?" he grumbled to himself, before he heard sound of the door closing. Jackson looked to his left, seeing Lincoln and Ronnie Anne standing in front of the door.

"Remember me?" Lincoln asked, the man stepping back in surprise.

"What the- how'd you find us!?" Jackson wanted to go get Danny for help, but there was no way out of the room. There was nothing to break the long fall outside the window, and there were no other ways to escape the room aside from the door the two preteens stood in front of.

"You left a long trail of clues," Lincoln lied, not wanting to inform them that Maddison brought them here. On the contrary, pretending to be the ones to have knocked her out probably was a better cover story for the insane girl than anything.

"Yep, three things are going to happen here. My boyfriends going to beat you up, then we're going to beat your friend downstairs up, and then we're going to leave with our friends," Ronnie Anne put a hand on her boyfriend's back. Lincoln thought it was for reassurance at first and appreciated it, until she shoved him forward, throwing him into the fight.

"Oh yeah? Bring it ya punk!" Jackson swung without any hesitation. Lincoln reacted instinctively, ducking under the blow and stumbling behind his opponent, wishing he had not literally been thrown into this. It almost let his enemy get a cheap shot in.

"Sorry, but you asked for this!" Lincoln attempted to punch at him, but his enemy simply grabbed his arm before hitting him in the face and knocking him back down, his head throbbing in pain.

"Come on, Lincoln! Even you should've known that was a stupid move!" Ronnie Anne berated him for his horrible movement, especially when fighting someone bigger than him. Jackson ran up, about to strike a strong kick to the white haired boy before he heard his girlfriend chime up.

"Dodge and aim for the knee cap!" She said. Lincoln was going to do his best preparing. Jackson had ignored the dark skinned girl, completely thinking she was doing nothing but coaching practical moves. He swung his leg at Lincoln full force, the young boy rolling to the side of the attack and missing.

"My turn!" Lincoln threw his own kick, hitting Jackson's kneecap hard enough to somewhat force it inward, sending out a shock wave of pain throughout the older man's lower body.

"Ahh! Ya dang punk!" he shouted in pain, trying to keep himself standing. Lincoln got himself back onto his feet, seeing his enemy hunched over holding his hurt leg.

"Now go for it! Keep your body loose and tighten up right before you hit! Aim for the jaw!" Ronnie Anne ordered. Lincoln gained a grin across his face, starting to realize this was a fight he could win, and it became quite thrilling now that he knew that. He pulled back, and threw a left hook at the topaz machine ringed wearing man's face. He had kept his body relaxed and tensed his muscles hard right when his fist hit Jackson's cheek.

"Gahhh!" a defeated cry sounded. Lincoln had his eyes closed as he heard that. He opened his eyes to see his opponent on his side, thriving in pain, being quite stunned from the hard hit to his jaw. The white haired boy looked to his girlfriend.

"Di…did I win?" Lincoln quirked, panting in slight disbelief. His hand hurt a little but that was expected, he used to not agree with fighting like this, but talking seemed to be worthless in the current situations that befell him.

"Not yet you didn't. Knock him out with one good kick straight to his head. You leave your opponent conscious, they might get back up and try to annoy you later," Ronnie Anne pointed to the man. Lincoln glared at Jackson. The choke marks on his neck and wounds on his arm hurt just from looking at the man. The young boy pulled back his leg, putting all his anger into the incoming swing. Jackson got hit hard enough to knock out a tooth and throw him over onto his stomach.

"I… I did it… I won my first fight! …Boy, revenge really does feel great," Lincoln admitted in joy, glad to know he had finally been able to win a fight without having to resort to running around hiding or quick planning.

"Yeah! You did great! …There isn't much more really I can teach you. The rest is more instinct based," Ronnie Anne congratulated him, but admitted that how she handled fights was through her gut feeling or the likes. That was how street fighting tended to be, but she usually had the upper hand in fights by default for being able to react fast. Now that he knew how to handle bigger opponents, Lincoln hugged her and kissed her cheek as thanks, not caring if it annoyed her.

"Come on! Let's go save David!"


	18. Hate Filled Fight

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood in the kitchen of the mansion, the refrigerator off to the side out of the place of where it used to be, and revealing an open door that had a long set of dark eerie stairs. The only light seemed to be at the bottom, unless it was a single bulb hanging above the stairwell loosely by its wires.

"Yeah this is about as scary as most mansion basements..." He commented.

"How many mansion basements have you been in?" Ronnie Anne asked her sheepishly smiling boyfriend.

"Uh… this'll be the third," Lincoln stated. The last two he had been in were abandoned and in shambles. The first one he had gone with Lucy to explore and hope to find an item of dark value for his sibling, to thankfully no success. The second one he had accidentally found with Clyde, and they only got to explore the basement of it due to how unsafe the rest of it had been.

"Let's do this…" the white haired boy refocused their attention on the matters at hand, feeling more embarrassed the more he spoke about eerie places he had explored. He was mainly trying not to creep her out. Lincoln began to head down the steps. Thankfully they did not need to worry about these ones breaking underneath them, as they were made of solid stone.

"You were right. This is kind of scary," Ronnie Anne agreed very late. For some reason it felt like the staircase went on forever. Each step they took down felt like they were instead sending them back up five steps. They were slowly but surely getting to the bottom, but did nothing to ease the haunting feeling. The two had dealt with the other topaz machine ring wearing man upstairs after Lincoln had rendered him unconscious, and they had taken the shower curtains from one of the bathrooms and wrapped him up in them so he could not escape.

"Wow, this place is giant…" Lincoln commented in a whispering tone. They were both now in the basement, and Maddison's comment about the place being as big as a warehouse was not too far off. The basement was huge, being lit by random electronic lanterns that looked more fitting for camping trips rather than to light up areas, but they worked all the same.

"I know you're messing with us. You told us that rat was going to be at the park. We never even found the place and we followed your directions exactly," Danny's voice was heard, followed by a yawn.

"No, I told you to go look for a place where kids go to, and then you told your idiot friend the park," David replied, irritated at how often these two buffoons had been interrogating him no matter how bad an answer he gave them. They seemingly always would investigate it. The whole deal was funny at first, but quickly lost the hilarity after the fifth time.

"There he is…" Lincoln whispered. Danny stood in front of a half-injured David who was tied up to a chair, with chains wrapping around his lower body and keeping his arms stuck behind his back.

"You go from the side. I'll distract him," Ronnie Anne replied with the best plan in mind. She was starting to realize how poor her boyfriend was under pressure that he never could think up a plan too fast. She had to have a talk with him that he had to actually handle planning things faster and better, or else he ran the risk of losing his life.

"Alright… I-I'll try and knock him out," Lincoln agreed while looking around. The only weapon he saw in sight was the very skateboard on his girlfriends back. She had that look on her face that asked if he was serious. After a brief moment of pondering, Ronnie Anne reluctantly handed her skateboard over to him.

"Thanks. I'll make sure to buy you another if anything happens to this one," Lincoln thanked her as he began to silently move against the wall, trying to stick to the darkness to stay out of sight. Ronnie Anne cracked her knuckles ready to just get this over with.

"Hey! Big, bald and stupid!" the black haired girl called out. Danny turned around to see her. For some reason, being called bald was the one thing out of that all to upset him.

"And who might you be, ya little rat?" Danny replied, David looking over with a quirking eyebrow. He did not recognize the girl, but he saw the crab ring on her hand with the ruby and rolled his eyes, unable to believe that another child was a co-worker of his.

"Ronnie Anne… and I'm here for my co-worker," she introduced herself. The topaz ring wearing man looked somewhat baffled to hear this.

"That Nora woman is so desperate that she's recruiting more children? Talk about sad… oh well, if ya think I'm above murdering a child, you're in for a surprise," Danny laughed. Lincoln was sneaking up behind him, the skateboard tightly gripped in his hands. David was going to enjoy the show, not like he could do much.

"Don't threaten my girlfriend!" Lincoln swung, and skateboard collided hard with the back of the man's head, causing him to stumble forward from the attack, the hit having shocked him. Ronnie Anne grinned, winding back and watching him coming toward her. She threw a punch, hitting him in the nose that nearly knocked him on the ground, but the man was able to get back up, despite his now bleeding head.

"You! You're the rat I was out for!" Danny's eyes were focused on Lincoln.

"I'm not a rat. I'm a Loud," Lincoln retorted the first thing in his head. He was shocked at how little the combination of their attacks did, but a skateboard was not the most blunt weapon available as much as it seemed like it was, in the end it was a glorified plank on wheels.

"Getting better at verbal foreplay during a fight. Reallllly gotta work on that though," David commented from behind him. The white haired boy never knew witty retorts were important to a fight, but here he was now in that position where the most he had in mind was his family name to reply with.

"Wha? Hey!" Lincoln had the skateboard yanked from his hands, Danny having taken advantage of his momentary distraction, and without hesitation breaking the skateboard over his knee in half before tossing the broke parts aside.

"Lincoln, never take your eyes off your enemy!" Ronnie Anne angrily informed him. She hoped that he at least learned that on his own, but she had only just started getting involved with being his trainer, though the fact that Lincoln was just learning did not make it any better for how little he knew.

"Sorry, sorry!" Lincoln apologized for letting his girlfriend's skateboard be broken, before he received a hard punch to his left cheek that knocked him on the floor. He caught himself before seeing Danny about to stomp on him like an ant under his shoe until Ronnie Anne jumped on his back and dug her nails into his eyes.

"Graaah! Get off me, you fink rat!" Danny screamed being blinded by the fingernails clawing at his eyes, she kept one hand on his face clawing his eye while she used the other to punch him in the back of the head repeatedly. Lincoln forced himself up on his feet and charged at his enemy, ramming his elbow into his chest at full force.

"Hey, look at that. You're actually putting up a fight," David chuckled, impressed. Lincoln paid the comment no mind. Danny grabbed Ronnie Anne by her leg and hair, bringing her off his back and throwing her at Lincoln. The white haired preteen tried his best to catch her, but got knocked down by the sheer force of the throw, the two sliding on the floor a short distance.

"Uhhgg…" Lincoln coughed. Ronnie Anne lay on his chest, her head hurting from that hard pull that nearly ripped out some of her hair.

"Sorry, I thought I had a tighter grip on him than that," Ronnie Anne apologized. Danny had only one eye open now, so she had done significant damage to his right eye. The couple helping each other up before they saw Danny run right for them. The two did not get much of a chance to react. Ronnie was knocked aside, her boyfriend got grabbed since he was the main target of this rampaging man.

"I've got you now!" Danny tackled the boy against the wall with a hard slam that hurt his head. Lincoln had no opening to react as Danny swung a full force fist into his chest, rattling his ribs. The big man's knee then thrust hard into his stomach, and another punch followed directly to the face, forcing the energy lollipop Lincoln had in his mouth down his throat and be swallowed whole, making him start coughing and choking slightly. Danny's assault got interrupted by a thwack to the back of his head.

"Lay off him!" Ronnie Anne shouted, holding her helmet by the straps. Danny was sick of the blows being dealt to his head.

"Fine, I'll let you have a part of the beating if you want it so bad!" the man ran for her. The dark skinned girl stepped aside and swung her helmet lower, hitting Danny in the shin. His leg rung out in agony as he fell to the ground face first.

"You little ra-ack!" Danny felt his head be practically crushed by the helmet, one swing after another. Ronnie Anne was not letting up while bashing the guy's face in. After a few brief moments, she had to stop when her arms got tired and energy ran out.

"You alright?" she panted, calling to her boyfriend who gagged and coughed a little before he got kicked in the back by David, which easily sorted it out hearing him gasp for breath. Lincoln felt weird when the lollipop he swallowed hit his stomach, but he ignored it. That would happen to him anytime he ate things that were not meant to be eaten whole, which sadly happened more often than he liked.

"Haah… yeah… just got forced to swallow the energy pop. Are you alright?" Lincoln questioned, coming over to her. Danny lay flat on his back, his face battered, his nose broken, the barrage of the helmet with blood on it being squandered like a flail.

"If I said yes, would you believe me?" Ronnie Anne smirked, having gotten a black eye from that fight and a sore area from where her hair had been yanked, and some bruises on her sides from where she had been thrown at her boyfriend like a ragdoll.

"Heh… what can I say? You're probably the toughest girl in the mafia now," Lincoln began laughing after his statement. He was unable to believe that he was actually finding this fun after the violent assault they had received. Lincoln couldn't afford to care for his bruised face and torso. The preteen couple gave each other a thankful congratulatory kiss for looking out for one another, but they were interrupted once again.

"Excuse me! Co-worker in chair! Please release before you start the frenching session!" David called out, stomping his foot, slightly irritated at how quickly the two had nearly forgotten him from their fight.

"O-oh, right. Sorry David!" Lincoln apologized with a blush on his face. He inspected Danny and grabbed a convenient key from his shirt pocket, and went to unlock David's chains. Ronnie Anne not able to stop smiling for some reason, being able to find this situation funny despite how violent it had become. She was glad to have experienced it.

"About time. Jeez…" the chain smoker thanked them as the chains clattered to the ground once the lock had been released.

"How'd they capture you anyway?" asked Ronnie Anne, "Lincoln said that you two had locked them in a walk in freezer…"

"Yeah, I'm curious about how that happened too," Lincoln added, both looking to their co-worker who tried to find a cigarette in his pockets. Unfortunately he was out of them. He tried his best to recall what happened.

"It's annoying. After I called Nora and told her what happened, three cops arrived. They went in to arrest them. Next thing I know, two of the officers somehow had gotten handcuffed together and were left stuck with the chain on a meat hook. The third got knocked out with me. Those two lunatics were a lot tougher than we thought," David explained. It was just a matter of underestimation that led to his kidnapping, and some police being outsmarted.

"Well we got them, and don't worry. This time, we'll all stay to make sure police get them," Lincoln claimed. Ronnie Anne nodded, not taking her eyes off who had given her the first good real fight she had ever gotten in a long time.

"Let's go get the one from upstairs, and see if we can wake Maddison," Lincoln said. His girlfriend nodded, following him off to go get Jackson from the closet they had left him tied up in. They just hoped the Mad Batter could wake up now. David grunted as he picked up Danny, beginning to carry him up out of the basement.

"Those two are good together… wait, did they say Maddison?!"


	19. Rest

**Authors Note: Before you read I wanted to apologize for how bad the last 2 chapters were, I am deeply sorry for that. To show my gratefulness I'll be trying to get a double upload for you all tomorrow, cheers to 20 chapters!**

After a ten minute wait, the police arrived and got the two topaz machinery ring wearing men into custody. Now Lincoln sat outside of a fast food restaurant, Grill Meal, one out of many in the chain. Anyone who ate here and didn't feel like they ate the food straight from the grill could get a refund. The chain did not live up to the tagline completely, but it was tolerable. The couple sat at a table outside the fast food joint with an umbrella overhead, blocking the annoying sunlight, even though the sun was going to set in the next few hours. The young boy still wishing he had his phone right now, he really wanted to inform Clyde what was going on.

"So… think I'm cut out for the mafia now?" Ronnie Anne asked. Lincoln smiled, looking to her.

"More cut out than I am, that's for sure," Lincoln snickered. Maddison slept beside them in another chair, her head on the table while snoring loudly. They had carried her here to the fast food restaurant. Meanwhile David was inside getting their food, mainly because they were all hungry and tired, all agreeing to take a small break here to fill their empty gullets.

"Any ideas on how to wake her up?" Lincoln asked his love, not wanting to carry the Mad Batter around everywhere. They had already tried several times to wake the frog hooded girl. They pinched her nose, shouted into her ear, shook her, and poured cold water on her, but none of that worked, so they gave up and carried her.

"Maybe if we put one of those energy pops in her mouth?" Ronnie Anne suggested. That was the only idea in mind. The preteen girl got up from her seat and went over, beginning to dig around in the pockets of the insane girl's hood and pants.

"Are you feeling okay?" she added. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow.

"No worse than usual. Why?" he asked his girlfriend, aware that Maddison had a bag of the energy giving candy somewhere on her personal being, but Lincoln was too afraid of what he might find to help her check.

"Well, you did swallow the whole energy pop. I was worried that you might start winding down and getting tired again," Ronnie Anne explained. She was just keeping check on her boyfriend's current status of energy, hoping he was not on the verge of passing out again.

"Don't worry. I'm still awake. I guess the candy will keep me going until it's completely gone," Lincoln replied, assuming it was only a matter of time until his stomach acid handled the lollipop. He felt better not thinking about how he ended up swallowing the stick of it as well.

"Let me know if that changes. Promise me you'll actually get some sleep tonight? I really don't want to see how bad you look without two days of sleep," Ronnie Anne requested as she found the bag of energy candy that had been in a hidden pocket inside the hood.

"Okay… I'll make sure to sleep when I do get home," Lincoln nodded, promising to do just that. He would most likely be asleep in the park if not for Maddison and her candy.

"Here, let me help," Lincoln said as he held open Maddison's mouth, the Mad Batter still snoring during this. Ronnie Anne had meanwhile unwrapped another energy lollipop, seeing the white center and light white powder covering it. She put the candy into their co-worker's mouth before letting her mouth close around it.

"…Maybe it takes a minute," Lincoln shrugged. He assumed that it took longer for the energy candy to help out those who were unconscious. Lincoln looked in the nearby window that let them view into the restaurant. The two could see their own battered selves in its reflection. The preteen couple stared for a brief time before they began to burst out into hard laughter. They looked so silly, despite the wounds, Lincoln having the worse out of the two of them.

"Maybe this is how we'd look if we fought each other when we first met," Lincoln chuckled. When they first met, the young boy had become her primary bullying target, but she was doing it to show her affection, as odd as it sounded.

"Are you kidding? I'd have you hanging upside down in the girls' bathroom if you even tried to fight me," Ronnie Anne grinned. The memories were quite well in her mind. Her boyfriend believed that easily. He would gladly take it a hundred times over instead of the mafia, if he had a choice. As weird as it sounded, he missed school.

"Heh… is that a challenge?" Lincoln retorted, leaning toward the raven haired girl in reply. Ronnie Anne leaned toward him, their faces being close. The lightly aggressive form of flirting was somehow fitting for them. The white haired boy felt weird. It was not the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, but like his heart beating. It felt like a calm and peaceful radiating drumbeat, and with each pound he felt his mind being cleared more and more, his body relaxing to the serenade of peace within him.

"I'm alive!" the couple both felt their jaws get hit by the skull of Maddison, her head rising from the table suddenly. Ronnie Anne groaned, holding her face, thinking she chipped a tooth. Lincoln was not reacting much at all to the pain she had inflicted. The smile on his face remained there.

"Hey, glad to see you're alright," Lincoln welcomed her back to her consciousness. Maddison noticed where they were now. It seemed she really could not stay awake without those energy pops, which explained why she had one in her mouth at all times.

"I'm pretty sure I broke something, but I'll live. Did you two save the chain puffer?" Maddison quirked as they saw David coming out, carrying a tray full of all their food and drinks on it that seemed to be plenty an answer for her.

"Good to see ya awake, Maddie… like you usually are," David, the man still sporting the sloth ruby ring, took his seat.

"Yeah… everything worked out… kind of," Ronnie Anne answered. The injuries she and her boyfriend had sustained were the obvious worst thing that came from it. The black haired girl took her milkshake and fries.

"I still don't appreciate how you made out with me while I was tied up," David stated while trying to light a cigarette, casting a glare at the Mad Batter. Lincoln laughed a little, unable to believe neither the friends he had made nor the position he was in. Every mission or job completed and every end of the day where they survived felt like a celebration.

"Oh come on, you enjoyed it as much as I did! I had a lot of time to think while I was asleep though," Maddison claimed before she began to strip almost every ring off her fingers, only leaving on the ruby animal rings, the topaz machinery and the emerald plants placed on the table.

"Why are you taking those off?" Lincoln questioned, picking one up to examine it. The ring looked like a wilted rose, the green gem dangling loosely from it. His girlfriend was able to take a safe bet on what this meant.

"I think it's time to put all my eggs in one basket! And then see how far I can make it 'til they allllll break! I started with Nora, so I'll stay with her, mostly because she usually lets me gather up all the cut off fingers too," Maddison declared, the three co-workers of hers watching her pick up all the rings on the table before spinning around and chucking them behind her toward the road, where they heard them all collide loudly with a car's windshield that was speeding by.

"You did that on purpose," Lincoln claimed, but was unable to help but laugh a little, David just enjoying his burger. The crazy girl took her seat back, letting her hood slide off. She cast a stare at the white haired boy.

"…hm? Is something on my face?" Lincoln quirked, wondering if he had gotten some of his food on himself. She seemed to be piercing with the stare. Ronnie Anne still personally did not trust the lunatic.

"Hahaha! What'd you do with your energy pop?" The mad Batter requested. David was not going to get involved with an argument or a fight if one broke out, but a friendly brawl was a lot better than a life threatening one.

"One of the two guys punched it down his throat," Ronnie Anne explained. Maddison laughed a little before shaking her head.

"Oh, wow… your body isn't big enough yet to handle that method of taking the stuff! Sooo if you start having problems breathing, talking or start seeing rainbows of colors everywhere, or just go blind, lock yourself in your room for a day," Maddison forewarned. Lincoln gulped, wondering what she meant. He knew there might be a side effect to the energy pop, but she made it out to be a lot worse than she last let on.

"What? What did you give my boyfriend?!" Ronnie Anne grabbed the Mad Batter by her shirt collar, threatening to beat her up if she got no answer, even if she didn't feel any pain from it.

"Wow, kid, you declined a cigarette, yet you took a new drug that the cops don't even know about yet? …guess I won't judge," David commented. Ronnie Anne looked between Lincoln and Maddison a few times. She noticed some eerie similarities now, the happy smile and the look of pacified tranquility in their eyes.

"A drug?!" Lincoln repeated, stunned.

"Yeah! It's called the Luha Sa Dios. Lazzerson had the stuff imported from Cebu and has figured out how to produce it easily. Hey, you wanted something to wake you up, and I gave you it," Maddison explained. The drugs were not even known in the states, yet they had been imported from a far off location. Lazzerson was the leader of the mafia that used the flowers and emeralds to represent their group. The group itself was more into medical research, so they could manipulate addicts to be their goons for cheap labor, the addicts work, they get drugs instead of paychecks, simple as that.

"No way! We need to get you to the hospital right now, Lincoln," Ronnie Anne protested to letting even one of those side effects happen to her boyfriend. Lincoln shook his head.

"I can't. If I go to the hospital, what would my family say if they found out I was on a drug of any kind? The doctors would tell them, you know," Lincoln was not planning on going anywhere other than back home. He would change his mind instantly and get medical help if he saw any signs of the side effects. The young boy could see the look of uneasiness in his girlfriend's eyes. Ronnie Anne understood, but she did not know what to say in reply.

"Look, I hate to pile on, and I am grateful for you two saving me… but what are you two going to do about the bruises? You guys are covered in them head to toe. I mean, you even have a black eye," David questioned, pointing to Ronnie Anne's black eye which seemed impossible to hide from their families, if that was their intention. Lincoln had bruises, and none of them looked minor. Each hit they had taken was strong enough to rival a horse kicking them.

"Oh… I didn't think about that…" Lincoln groaned, holding his head in his hands. He was still finding a now annoyingly calm vibe about it all with a smile still on his face. He took the neckerchief off from around his neck and just threw it aside, finding there to be no point in trying to cover up the choke marks. He couldn't make the makeup cover everything, he was having only two options in mind at the moment.

"I'll be fine. Bobby knows when to not ask too much," Ronnie Anne stated. Her older brother was easy to deal with. As for Lincoln and his family, not so much. She could tell her boyfriend was racking his brain for an idea, but was coming up with nothing at all. It was obvious how terrified he was now, his own well being was the last thing on his mind. David snapped his finger, pulling out his cellphone.

"I got you covered. Let me just call up a friend of mine."


	20. Shackle of lies

Things were normal in the Loud house right now. The sisters all were at their own tasks. Lola and Lana remained the only two who really had any idea of what their brother was doing. That was what they thought anyway. The two were having their own talk at the moment over it.

"Sooo, you really think he's getting married?" Lana asked confusedly after what they had seen at the park earlier. She was unsure, after all that girl in the frog hood coat who had stalked them was more engraved into her mind than anything.

"I mean he put a ring on her finger and they sure spent a lot of time kissing. sounds like an engagement to me," Lola replied, the two just in their room. Lily was nearby, playing with building blocks. The sun had set about half an hour ago. Every passing minute made them more worried for their brother. The money really did not mean much if they had to spend another night without the older sibling. They heard a knocking at their bedroom door.

"Come in!" Lana chimed up. They saw Lynn open the door and step inside.

"Hey Lola. Hey Lana. I wanted to ask when you said Lincoln would be back," Lynn requested. She had an agreement with her brother to check him for any new self inflicted wounds, so she could see if he gained any new ones. The twins had told anyone who asked that he would be home soon, but the two had fallen off using that lie once two hours had passed, and they had no idea what errand to make up to cover for their brother either.

"We dunno," Lana simply answered, casting her gaze to the floor. Lola was more distracted in thinking about their brother's possible marriage.

"Do you need help with something?" the girl in the red cap added. Lynn shook her head, looking depressed from hearing the answer.

"No. I'm just very worried about him," Lynn confessed. She was not the only one in that position. Nearly the entire family was concerned after he told them all he felt worthless and a burden to them all. Their parents only thought that their only son needed some space or just starting puberty early. Even so, Lynn was the only sister to know about the gashes.

"Uh…What was that noise?" Lola chimed up, her attention being drawn to the sound of a siren travelling a short distance before cutting off. The three went to the window to peek into the front yard, and they noticed a police squad car outside. It sent a fearful tremor throughout Lynn's body.

"Come on, we should go downstairs," Lynn insisted while picking up their baby sister Lily who seemed to be getting tired already, wanting to go to sleep early due to missing her naptime earlier. The four siblings were not the only ones to take notice of this, and any sister who had not seen the police car pull up had their attention drawn by the sound of their doorbell.

"Like what's going on?" Leni questioned, seeing Lynn and the twins. They had no clue as they continued downstairs to the living room. What they saw mortified them.

"Lincoln?!" a lot of the family spoke up, their parents at the door. Their middle brother stood there with handcuffs binding his wrists together. The family saw bruises covering his very body, and his visible arms gashes. Standing beside him was a tall and lanky police officer.

"Girls! Girls! Calm down please!" Their father saw them all about ready to mob their brother. Lori could not help but get a picture of this either. No one could believe it with their own eyes.

"Lincoln, what happened, honey?" Mrs. Loud asked. Her son gave no reply as the officer beside him coughed, gaining their attention as he pulled out a notepad.

"About an hour ago we got a report that there was a lot of noise coming from the parking garage of the Royal Woods shopping mall... You sure you don't want to talk yourself young man?" the officer asked with a menacing glare. Lincoln gave no response, looking away to the grass of their lawn. The cop shook his head like he was disappointed.

"When me and another unit arrived to the fourth floor of the parking garage, we found about ten people fighting. Your son here was one of them. Everyone stopped once we showed up, but he and a few of them decided to make a run for it, but thankfully your son tripped," the officer pulled out the key to the handcuffs, undoing them and freeing the young boy from his bindings. Lincoln still did not speak up, while rubbing his sore wrists.

"Your son here should be charged with resisting arrest, assault and participating in a turf war… but we had a small talk while the doctors in the hospital examined him, and I'm deciding to cut him a break," the officer claimed. Mrs. Loud felt her heart freed from the tenseness of the situation from hearing that her son was going to not receive criminal charges.

"Really? We-well thank you, officer, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience…" Mr. Loud said before the officer waved his hand and chimed in with his harsh tone.

"I'm not doing it because your boy here did something stupid. I'm not going to lie and say I did something like this when I was his age. I'm only cutting him slack, because out of all those kids, he seemed like a partial victim and the only one who cared for what he did. His boss vouched for him as well, and let me just inform you all that if your boy here gets into another situation like this, he'll have all those charges back on his head and then some," the police officer put it bluntly, claiming that one of the deciding factors was Lincoln's obvious to view guilt and his boss supposedly acting as a character witness. His sisters were confused since their brother had told them he was only going to start work at Monday, they wondered how well he knew his boss.

"Thank you, officer. Really, we'll make sure this doesn't happen again," Mrs. Loud thanked him, Mr. Loud sharing the same gratitude.

"I sure hope so… cause I'd hate if Child Protective Services get involved," the policeman stated before placing a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. Lynn noticed three rings on the officer's hand. Each one had a ruby in it, one of a snake with the red rock in its mouth, another of a bear holding the ruby in its paws, and the last one of an ox with one of its hoofs on the ruby. Their designs matched the style her brother's black widow ruby ring, the rubies almost resonating with each other somehow.

"Don't worry, it won't," Mr. Loud declared. After another brief chain of thanks and apologies, they closed the door in the span of the few seconds. Lincoln lay on the couch and leaned back, looking to his sisters, seeing all of them staring at him. A few had their mouths agape. Others could not even look directly at him, and some looked violently shaken mentally.

"Sorry I'm late," Lincoln chimed up, and he was swamped instantly. The Loud children's parents looked to each other.

"Kids, your father and I are going to go talk privately while you all… do this," Mrs. Loud said, though they weren't heard. They needed to talk about what to do about this. As the parents went upstairs, their father looked down there.

"This time, ignore the breathing space rule!" Mr. Loud said before continuing off, his feet clanking against the stairs. Normally if someone cried out about breathing space, they were supposed to give some space to whoever they were surrounding. The father thought that it would be better if Lincoln endured that for now.

"Feels good to be home," Lincoln sighed in relief with a smile on his face, despite the fact that everyone of his siblings were asking him a lot at once all, but Lynn was trying to put a metaphorical puzzle together in her head. That officer came off more hostile than most, but did not feel like it was real.

"What did you do?!"

"Who beat you up!?"

"We know you wouldn't go starting a fight! What happened?"

Lincoln looked back and forth between everyone talking. However he had no care in his mind, which left him with mixed feelings. He had a smile on his face and could feel the tranquil pounding of his heartbeat. It was like that was all his brain needed to be happy, which frustrated him, because the young boy knew he should be under a lot more worry than that.

"Say something, bro!"

"What did they do to you there!?"

"Wow, you must have been cruisin' for a bruising."

"Luan!"

Lincoln was going to let them keep talking until it all winded down, because he would either be drowned out or have even more things piled onto him. He would rather answer a million inquiries with less shouting. Before he knew it, an argument had arisen because of the gifts he had given them. For some reason his siblings started blaming one another for taking all his savings, which they presumed was a heavy stress causer for their brother.

"Lincoln…?" Lynn nervously spoke. Her brother had gotten away from the other family members without much notice due to a dust cloud of fighting. Now he, Lynn, Lily and Lucy weren't involved, the goth having been presumably watching from somewhere but not in their sight.

"Don't worry about me, Lynn. If you still want to check me out for wounds, go ahead. Though I think you're in for a lot of results," Lincoln joked. The sports loving girl was happy to see her sibling with a bright smile on his face, but she felt disturbed by his weird, gleaming eyes that made them look like he was almost in a world of his own. Lincoln took Lily from her, his baby sister cooing in glee with no understanding to what happened, just happy to be in her brothers arms.

"Hey Lily. Come on, I'll get you changed and fed. I think everyone else is busy," Lincoln said while cradling her in his arms, Lily giggling when he tickled her chin the white haired boy taking the infant upstairs to take care of her. Lynn stayed downstairs, something was going on but if the auburn haired girl wanted to find anything out being passive was no longer going to do anything. The only problem was now trying to figure out how to go about this. Lynn had no idea if he was suicidal, content or having issues finding a purpose in his life, resulting in an early life crisis, but even so, he was not as depressed as before, which was a good sign.

Lincoln spent the next bit of time alone with Lily. After getting her a clean diaper, he was sitting in a rocking chair. Lily lay in his arms, drinking a bottle of milk, while his cellphone was held between his head and shoulder.

"…and that's what's been going on. Sorry that I took so long to tell you, Clyde, but not going a single day without a near death experience is… well, distracting," Lincoln had just finished explaining everything that was occurring to his best friend. He felt bad for not telling his friend until late. He looked down to Lily who had gotten halfway through her bottle of milk, the infant close to falling asleep while rocking in his arms in the chair.

"I just… Lincoln, I wish this was something I could help you with," Clyde sighed. Lincoln understood his friend's frustration. Not only was his practical brother's life in danger, but hearing every last bit of information of it at once was a bit overwhelming.

"I don't want you to get involved, Clyde. Ronnie Anne only got in because she forced her way in. But hey, take it as a good thing. When I die, you'll at least know the truth behind it all," Lincoln laughed, for some reason making light of this situation.

"Lincoln! How can you act so calm about this?! And what do you mean when you die?!" Clyde began to panic. Lincoln rolled his eyes, noticing that Lily was done with the bottle. He rested the empty bottle aside, letting his baby sister cuddle into his chest, the white haired boy still smiling while patting her back.

"What can I say, Clyde? I'm not gonna lie to you and say everything will be alright, because we both know it's not. At some point of this, something bad is gonna happen to someone, and if I don't mess up too badly, it'll probably be just me. I feel like I found a purpose in life. It's weird, but that's how I feel," Lincoln explained, noticing his baby sister's eyes fluttering a little. Lily was close to falling asleep. The young boy could still hear his family downstairs for the most part. Normally the white haired preteen would be down there breaking the fight up, but he felt like he would make it worse.

"Lincoln… dude, I know it's going to be rough, but if there's one person I know that can pull off impossible things, it's you… and everyone in your family… but I can't believe you actually sound so happy talking about the chance of dying," Clyde stated. It was very depressing to hear his friend talk like he expected to die before he would even turn thirteen in under two weeks, he dreaded to imagine his friends birthday being a tragic memory rather than a festive joy to celebrate another year in this world.

"Well to be fair, I did get tricked into taking some weird drug, whether that's what's making me happy with everything or not, I don't know… it's a long story," Lincoln stated. So far he saw no side effects from the energy pop in his stomach, leaving out the part where he might not be able to sleep. The closest he can get now would just be lying still and keeping his eyes closed.

"Jeez, Lincoln… If you need anything and think I can help, call me up. But for now, I gotta go and help with dinner. Take it easy," Clyde told his friend before hanging up. Lincoln did not lose that smile while pocketing his cellphone. He looked to Lily who was chewing on one of his fingers. The white haired boy decided to just let her continue, not like that one tooth could do any harm to him anymore than those thugs already had.

"I love you," Lincoln told Lily while rubbing her head, fixing what little of hair the baby had. Lincoln was glad that this devious plan worked wonders in the end. David had called up another co-worker of theirs, which happened to be a police officer to not only help give Lincoln and Ronnie Anne rides home, but to also give the young boy a good cover for the reason he had the bruises. However, when he put his phone into his pocket, he felt something in there that he had no recollection of acquiring.

"Huh? What's this?" Lincoln asked himself, pulling out two things from his pocket. The first was a weird baseball card. On the front of the card appeared to be a girl looking nineteen years old with long red hair that looked very messy and unkempt. She was holding a ton of bats under each arm like she had been caught cleaning up when the photo was taken.

"…so that's why you were familiar," Lincoln realized that it was Maddison when she was younger. The name had been so familiar, but now he knew why. The white haired boy had Lynn tell him about her before, but there was an older news report he had seen circling around the net about the star Maddison going missing after murdering her husband and sports manager. All she took was the bats from the house, and no one knew what happened to her two children.

"Just had to leave me one last creepy thing, huh?" Lincoln chuckled, seeing a bloody thumbprint on the bottom left of the baseball card, "…or two."

He turned his attention to the other item, which appeared to be a photograph of Maddison beside her husband with their children standing on the sides of them. There was writing on the back which he noticed when he turned it over.

"Y'know, people try and say insanity has no reason. Everything is crazy. If you start to go insane, you begin to become an uncontrollable monster. They're wrong, my reasons are planted at the cause. There is no endgame. One day, I got bored of the high end lifestyle, the constant games and appearances. While my husband was asleep, thinking me and my children were off visiting relatives, I murdered him and my manager while they slept together. I got sick of being handed everything, so I decided to get rid of it all with a side of revenge. Nora found me a day later and got me to join her, claiming my wildness could help out. Try not to lose yourself to insanity, Lincoln, unless you have no other way out."

"Maddison… you never cease to amaze me," Lincoln thought, seeing the writing of Maddison's background as much as she could recall on her own anyway. He was unsure what to think. Everyone in Nora's group was crazy, but they seemed to be relatively in control of themselves. The young boy looked down to the sleeping Lily on his chest, she had fell asleep while he was looking at the two items he got. Lincoln stood up before resting his infant sibling in the crib to let her sleep, before he began to leave the room turning off the lights and leaving the room to get to his own bedroom.

"I won't let insanity take me though, that would be a sad way to go out."


	21. OverJoyed

**Authors Note: Due to very big errors in several places, I deleted this chapter til it was repaired. And also, let me thank you all for 15k views. Sorry again for the confusing that arose from the probably 30 minute long removal of the chapter. I do my best to get you all a chapter out daily, sometimes two. But I still would like to repair any mistakes that come around. Enjoy the chapter.**

Saturday night had been nothing but one big mess. Lincoln had literally all his sisters on him trying to wait on him hand and foot, to treat his injuries and make sure he was alright. Any excuse to make him get some rest they did, it got to the point where they thought he needed help just walking around to the bathroom. All of this, and their middle brother was acting so calm and happy about it, the one thing that was unnerving to the sisters. Every time one of them tried to apologize again for him wasting his money or becoming stressed out, the white haired boy would laugh and tell them the same thing every time.

"If taking care of me makes you all happy, then go ahead, but I deserve all this."

Those exact words every time spoken, they were in the same tone. Everyone had also noticed that every time that he said that, he had a big smile on his face and the look in his eyes seemed to fade to a zombified gaze. That night, when they thought he was asleep, the girls all backed off him, and another rare moment of long night of silence for the house had occurred.

"Good morning, Royal Woods. Today is gonna be a scorcher, so hope you have a lot of water on hand, because you'll be dunking it on yourself the second you go out the door. In today's news…" the radio was shut off by the press of the snooze button. Lori sat up, rubbing her head. It was an early Sunday morning; just a few hours after this tense Saturday night subsided.

"Guess I slept in a little," Lori thought, looking at the time. It seemed her alarm had been set incorrectly by her last night. If an impossible to stand radio talk show host counted as an alarm anyway. The blonde girl stood up from her bed in her usual pajamas. She picked up her cellphone from the table, opening to see several texts from Bobby.

"You okay? Sorry I didn't get a chance to check my phone til now," the most recent text message read, sent sometime after Lori sent her boyfriend that photo of Lincoln she had taken last night. She knew he was probably too busy last night to see until now.

"Not really. Feeling better tho. Lincoln's really hurt bad. I can't even look at him without freezing for a second," Lori sent her reply before putting the phone aside. She decided to get dressed, thinking it would be best to take her mind off the recent stress and worry by doing whatever the chore wheel gave her today.

"Good morning, Lori," Lisa greeted her oldest sibling, seeing her coming into the kitchen. The toddler prodigy was still eating her breakfast of milk and cereal.

"Hey Lisa. Is Lincoln up yet?" Lori asked while going to the refrigerator where the chore wheel was, one big wheel with a smaller wheel inside it. On the inner part was the chores itself, and on the outer part were pictures of all the Loud siblings. If two got the same thing, then it just meant they could work faster on it. So far it had worked out fine for the home for the last few years ever since they had made it.

"He should still be in a state of R.E.M.S," Lisa replied while taking another bite of her breakfast. Lori swore her sibling liked using words her family did not know just to see them confused.

"He's what?" The blonde girl rubbed her head.

"He should be waking up soon is what I'm trying to say," Lisa fixed her glasses before going over and placing her bowl and spoon in the sink of mounting dishes. Nothing unusual in the house so far. Chores never were weird, but how fast they needed to be repeated sometimes several times a day was the worst part.

"Alright… thanks," Lori thanked her younger sister, but then noticed that she had gotten the laundry from the chore wheel, but that was already done, she had found all her clothes in a basket by her bed.

"Guess mom and dad did it already…" Lori guessed, spinning the wheel lightly again. It seemed she had gotten paired to the task of removing weeds from the front and backyards, as well as the garden, which they really grew nothing more than flowers in. It was growing nice since spring at least.

"Hey Lisa, you wanna help me out with this?" She requested. She could tell how hot it was outside just by one glance out the window.

"Sorry, but I did my chore, I did the dishes… and then everyone came to get breakfast," Lisa apologized. She did her task and all the dishware had been clean for maybe a matter of minutes, before everyone else came to get their breakfast and undid all that work. As far she was concerned, she had done her job, and it was in the hands of whoever spun the wheel next.

"Fine… tell me when Lincoln's awake," Lori told her younger sibling before going off to get her hat and head to the backyard, wanting to try and keep her head shaded.

"Oof! Sorry," Lori heard, seeing Leni sitting on the floor from where the two had bumped into each other while she was returning from the garage.

"It's okay. Is something wrong? You look more lost than usual," Lori helped her younger sister up. Leni took her crooked sunglasses off her face and put them back on top of her head, the minor insult going right over her head.

"I was trying to find the lawnmower, but it isn't in the garage and I have to mow," Leni explained. Normally the family had their push lawnmower stashed away in a corner of the garage near the cars, but there was nothing now. Leni was thinking she would have to go get another chore, she was happy about that much at least.

"What? Maybe dad took it to get repaired or something," Lori responded, doubting that the push mower could just vanish, unless someone broke in and took it while they slept in. If that was the case, they must have been the most quiet thief in the world to somehow open the garage, get it out and close the garage without so much as a cricket chirping.

"Lincoln already did nearly all the chores," Lucy chimed up, startling the two. Here she was, coming out of nowhere again. Their momentary heart attack was quickly replaced with confusion.

"Lincoln did what? But he's still asleep in his room. I heard him snoring," Leni commented. Their skull necklace wearing goth sibling had nothing more to say beyond what she saw with her own two eyes past the hair covering them.

"Hey uh, I appreciate whoever cleaned the bathroom, but… whoever's time of the month it is that took a shower last, just saying, ya can at least make sure to wash all the blood out! That was not cool!" Luna called out from upstairs, having gotten a surprise from when she went to take her morning shower and found some blood in the bathtub. It was grosser than anything to her. Lori and Leni looked to one another, neither having taken showers yet this morning. They usually waited a short time to let everyone else go first, so they would have some hot water.

"Luna, can you go get Luan and go check on Lincoln for us?" Lori requested. Lucy was at the back door with Lisa looking out into the backyard.

"I just did, and he isn't in there. I did see some blood on the sheets though," Lynn spoke up while coming downstairs, having went to check on her brother, but all she found was an empty bed, a tidy room and a small amount of blood. To her it was nothing too shocking, considering all the injuries he had last night. Luna and Luan stepped downstairs to them shortly after.

"Don't tell me he snuck out? We better go call mom!" Leni gasped. Luan was wondering what all the fuss was about. Their brother was not the type to just sneak out. She and Luna guessed that he was somewhere else in the house. Lori on the other hand was thinking the same as Lynn, terrified that their only brother might be out fighting some big turf war again with no context or reasoning.

"He's just in the backyard," Lucy cut into the worried atmosphere, quickly calming the situation. Last night's arguing gave her a headache, and she wasn't even involved. She did not want another one to be invoked by them.

"Yeah! With Lola, Lana and Charles," Lisa added, the other siblings coming to the back door to see for themselves, a lot seeming happy to know he was alright. When they looked outside, they saw Lola, a small table of hers and tea set, all placed under a tree. She was playing tea party with a few stuffed animals. Lana was trying to catch Charles since he had stolen her hat. Lincoln was cutting the grass with the push mower, unfazed by the heat. The constant attempts at trying to make their brother take it easy last night seemed to have failed, which annoyed some of the sisters. Lynn was more focused on his current personality and mood, she had been suspicious of him since yesterday.

"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Lori called out. Their brother stopped the push mower, having finished the chore. A very light tan was shown on his skin, which was topped by drips of sweat, but neither stopped that same bright smile on his face from last night. Lincoln was glad to feel happy constantly, but he knew the energy pop in his stomach was forcing him in this weird state of constant happiness and energy. He hoped there was not going to be a hard crash once it was worn off.

"Just an apology for worrying everyone. I got up early and started doing all the chores I could," Lincoln explained before he noticed Lynn come over and grab his arm to look at the gashes on it. They were healed better somewhat, but at the moment she could notice some blood leaking out. The bruises and other injuries did not look any better.

"Wow… you really need to quit 'pushing' yourself," Luan got the usual groans in response, like a very disappointed theater crowd. Lincoln snickered and laughed lightly at hearing that, but that gained their attention again.

"What can I say? I'm as sharp as a 'blade' of grass," Lincoln shook his head, exchanging puns. This one however received nothing but silence beyond a bright smile and thumbs up of approval from Luan.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Leni questioned. Lynn was trying to look over his wounds, but she felt his arm wrap around her and pull her into his side for a tight hug.

"Not at all. I couldn't really get settled," Lincoln shook his head. He had no sleep, but still seemed energetic. Their soon to be teenage brother however could feel the energy pop containing the drug heavily entering his system the longer his stomach took to digest it all, but he dared never to tell his sisters this, or even hint it.

"Well bro, it's nice to see you happy," Luna claimed, messing his hair up some. Lynn finally got out of the hug swearing he had crushed her spine and arms partially.

"What's stopping me from being happy? I got back home. That's all that matters. I love you all after all," Lincoln claimed. His eyes were odd, his pupils almost empty again like he was back in that world of his own, and they were not far off from that guess. Lincoln started seeing a ton of rainbow colors since this morning, but that lasted only a short time, so he ignored it after it had passed. At the moment, the young boy felt like everything was brighter, almost like everything was bouncing with life, his mind not having any depressing images in it.

"We love you too Linco-oh!" Leni was hugged tight by Lincoln. Lynn watched him hug each of the girls before wrapping his arm around as many as he could, like a weird game to see how many he could hug at once, though knew Lily was left out since she was still asleep in her crib upstairs. The nine sisters were now concerned if he was mentally lost from the lack of sleep.

"You should get inside. You look very dehydrated," Lisa stated, wanting to finish his work for him, considering he had done most of theirs.

"Aw… but I got so much more to do, and this weather's too good to pass up!" Lincoln claimed. He had finished not only all his own chores, but nearly all of everyone else's, including cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming, doing the laundry, and ripping up the weeds from all around the house. He was becoming gradually more concerned over the fact that he was acting somewhat like the Mad Batter. If that was why she swallowed her candy all the time, he was unsure if he would ever request more of the inevitably illegal drug.

"Bro, look at your arm. You need to chill," Luna reminded him. Lynn was off to get the first aid kit. Sometime this morning, the young boy had taken the bandaging off and forgot to reapply them. Most of them were amazed that their brother had energy after being without sleep all night, all of them oblivious to the fact it was his second day in a row without rest.

"Oh no. It was bleeding a lot worse earlier, but I washed it off in the shower," Lincoln assured that it was improving. No one had any clue how to respond to that. At least now the rock loving sibling knew where that blood came from. Whether that made it less disgusting or not was up for debate.

'Hey Luan… I have an idea on how to get him back inside," Lori whispered to the younger comedian who fixed her own hair into its usual ponytail style, doubting any of them were going to get anymore sleep. The short time they all had spent out here had felt like an eternity with this heat.

"Really? What?" Luan was happy to hear how she could help with this. Their brother did need to take it easy. If it was not for that weird over enthusiastic aura and smile he had, they would think he was ready to plant his face into the ground at a moment's notice.

"I know you set up three traps last night to prank us with, so go ask him to help reset them?" Lori replied. They had caught their prank loving sister setting up her traps last night, and they had defused them before they even had a remote chance to go off.

"I actually got one of them already remade. It's the most harmless of them all… wait… ohhh, you want me to distract him with it?" Luan grinned, eager at the mere thought of being able to put a prank to good use, thinking it would distract her younger brother from his constant desire of work.

"Yeah, go for it. …when Lynn finishes his bandaging," Lori nodded. Their private chatter done, they focused back to the others who were trying to convince him still to come inside, lay down and relax.

"There. That should do it," Lynn finished reapplying the wrappings to his arm, still more distracted with connecting the dots than anything but just glad to see him happy.

"Hey, Lincoln! Can you come help me with my chore? I need to do the laundry," Luan requested. Her younger brother nodded with that same smile on his face.

"Sure! I thought I had done them all this morning, but I guess not…" Lincoln laughed. The family was relieved as he followed the comedian inside, Lori and the rest staying behind. The other siblings felt a lot better on this matter now.

"Huh… it's like he says yes to everything now," Leni claimed, wondering if this was what a yes-man was. Lucy and Lisa had followed the two off, mostly out their spite of the heat and bright sunlight beating down on them.

"Guess we need to keep a closer eye on him…" Lynn commented, rubbing her neck. The twins were still playing by themselves, having already talked to their brother without success. Their parents were out of the home, trying to enjoy some time out.

"Looks that way," Luna nodded in agreement. Never in her life did she think she would have issues with someone doing her work for her so she could practice on her music, but not when it was actively harming their younger brother with the stress or pressure. Lynn wanted to tell them her thoughts, but she did not want to add anymore stress to the family than what already was there.

The sisters were all suddenly shaken by a lot of loud crashes and topples, that rung out from the house. The moment the noise ended, Lori instantly thought that she made a mistake in believing that any of Luan's pranks were harmless, because someone had to be the victim of most jokes for them to be funny. She was understanding now why Luan was trying to set them up in the middle of the night. Everyone went to go check out what had happened, Lori's head full of regret and fear.

"Oh… he is going to be soooo mad…"


	22. Confrontation

**Authors Note: once again I have to apologize, for the ton of typographical errors, I am sorry once again that i keep messing up with them.**

Lori and Lynn entered Lincoln's room, the two carrying their sleeping and smiling younger brother together. He had a rubber glove on his head and feathers stuck randomly on his body, most having fallen off on their own on the way here.

"He needed to get some rest anyway. I'm sure he'll forgive Luan," Lynn claimed. With how cheery their brother was today, she half expected a spine bending hug. The two lay him down on the bed. He was not really hurt that much. The sounds the prank itself made were more terrifying than it actually turned out to be. The siblings began to clean him up.

"So what's bothering you, Lynn? I haven't seen you practicing at anything for two days," Lori hoped that another family member was not going off the rails, slowly changing and acting weird. Lynn tried to pull the black widow ruby ring off their brother's hand, Lori watching.

"I swear he's not telling us the truth! And this stupid ring of his won't come off!" Lynn replied grunting with effort, trying to pull it off. Lincoln still slumbered away while his limb was tugged on, thankfully the energy pop in his system was not forcing him awake. Perhaps the light hit to his head that knocked him out was a lot worse than they realized.

"I know he's not telling us the truth, but we have to respect his privacy… What even does this ring matter? I know it looks like it belongs to Lucy, but I'm pretty sure she is a lot happier with the skull necklace," Lori asked. Lynn gave up on trying to force the ring off of Lincoln. She thought she was one of the stronger members of the family, but guessed this would take a lot more than brute force.

"Something's not right, Lori! That protective services worker had a dozen on her hands, and that cop that brought him last night had three! Each one had a ruby and looked like a very detailed animal," Lynn kicked the nearby wardrobe in frustration. Lori had not really thought about that. When she was able to recall it better, Nora, the Child Protective Services worker, was a fan of her own jewelry. The blonde woman did not recall what the rings were exactly, but sure could remember the bright rubies that shimmered when she saw them.

"Look Lynn, we're all under stress. Maybe you're just becoming paranoid. It's not like there are only a few animal rings in the world," Lori tried to calm her down. It would be stupid to get paranoid and mentally harm themselves over one possible answer to their brother's problems. When the two looked back at him, he was now lying on his side having, moved in his sleep.

"But Lori… every time Lincoln leaves the house, something horrible happens to him. We're missing a lot here. I don't think I can live with myself if we were the cause, and I don't think he wants our help." Lynn sighed, her depressing thoughts having resurfaced to the forefront of her mind. One giant lifestyle changing event was a problem to her. Whether it was with a new secret or not, it would affect everyone. even if only in minor ways.

"Lincoln would never cut us all off. If he needs help, he will ask, Lynn. He sure wouldn't want you not having any fun because of him either," Lori retorted. The younger girl knew her older sister had a point. Lincoln would most likely be more upset that she had not done her favorite hobby because of how worried she had been.

"I just want him to be Lincoln again. He thinks he's a burden to us all, and now look at him. He looks like he took some joy pill," Lynn stated. There was no normality behind how he was acting. Suddenly the two's personal talk was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Oh, it's his cellphone," Lori said, realizing it wasn't hers when she saw his cellphone vibrating in his side pocket. She pulled it out, not recognizing the number. She glanced to Lynn as if looking for approval to answer.

"Didn't you just tell me to respect his privacy?" Lynn wondered.

"Sorry Lynn… But if it's important for him, then one of us needs to answer anyway. What if it's his boss calling to make sure he doesn't miss his first day of work?" Lori exclaimed. It was either Lincoln's boss or something related to his odd change of behavior lately.

"Who said not to do it?" Lynn smiled, agreeing that they needed to answer this call for their brother's behalf. Lori opened up the cellphone, going down to Lynn's level and letting her place their heads near one another so they could hear the phone call itself.

"Hello? Hello? Oh, good you answered, Linc, I just wanted to ask how you were feeling. No seeing rainbows or having trouble breathing, right? …hey, are you giving me the silent treatment?" Maddison's voice rung out already. The two loud girls were confused. The Mad Batter's voice sounded weird a constant changing tone like even her own voice box was easily bored in conversations.

"Lincoln? Hello? …oh, come on, don't gimme the silent treatment. I'm calling to make sure you're alright… and because David and the boss made me call to make sure you weren't dead from the practical overdose… or is this because I teased you and your girlfriend about sex?" Maddison continued her semi-coherent talk. She sounded like she had quickly lost interest when she had heard no response from the co-worker. After such a joke happened, Ronnie Anne had grown to hate the insane co-worker by a long shot, which was saying something considering how much she had already hated her.

"Did that weirdo just say…?" Lynn looked to Lori whose eyes were wide. Half the things she heard at once were a bit too much to take in together.

"Hellloooooo? …Well if you're just giving me the silent treatment, I'll assume I'm taking to an answering machine and leave a voice mail. I was by your house about ten minutes ago and left you a gift in the mailbox. I left one in your girlfriend's too. Not really from me, but David insisted to the boss that you and your gal are acknowledged and rewarded for going outta your way to help save his life. Your next job is in it, too… me? Oh no no no no no, I had a finger cut off! Really never knew what it felt like til now, but that's what I get for being a technical traitor, I guess. At least now I can confidentially say I myself am the tastiest meat I've ever had," Maddison finished talking before there was the sound of struggling for the phone.

"Lady, give me back my phone!" a random stranger piped up before the sound of a bat colliding with a skull rung out.

"You forgot it in your pocket. Finders keepers!" the phone call ended abruptly.

"Wha… what was that?" Lori asked, the two just staring at the phone processing that all.

"How's Lincoln doing?"

"Waaah!" Lynn screamed in surprise, accidentally bashing the phone into the ceiling fan and watching it get ricocheted off Lincoln's head before clattering onto the floor. Lucy had unfortunately decided to appear out of nowhere again. Lori regretted not having a tighter grip now. They heard their brother groan in pain as he sat up, holding his head.

"Man… I had a weird dream. Wait, why am I covered in feathers?" Lincoln looked over himself. Feathers were on his shirt pants and shoes, and the rubber glove remained on his head. He began to remove them. That slumber his sisters hoped would last a lot longer was cut short.

"You fell for Luan's prank," Lucy flatly answered, going over to try and help him get all the feathers off.

"Oh, that's right… haha… guess I was too careless again," Lincoln shook it off with that bright smile on his face. He noticed his flip phone lying on the floor, broken in half a few buttons having fallen out as well.

"Huh… looks like I'll need to buy a new phone…" Lincoln spoke, guessing it was time for a minor upgrade anyway. He had no care over it, treating it like someone had dropped a carton of eggs instead of a slightly older piece of tech, but it still cost a decent amount of cash, which was not a real problem for him to cover now.

"Is something wrong? You two look like you saw zombies," Lincoln asked his siblings. Lori and Lynn were finally gathering themselves decently now, but had no clue on how to go about it. Hearing half of this made them more concerned when it all began to sink in. The older blonde girl fixing her hair, Lucy pulling off some of the last feathers from her brother, who then pulled her into a hug as thanks.

"Go check the mail…" Lori told Lynn.

"Got it," the sports lover went off. The older blonde girl looked mentally wrecked right now as she rubbed her head.

"The mail doesn't run on Sundays," Lincoln reminded his older sibling. He looked to Lucy who was just as confused as her brother about this, but could vanish in a moment's notice herself the second everyone even momentarily looked away.

"Someone called and said they left you something in there. Lincoln, before we ask anything, we want you to be honest… and I mean it this time, please tell us only the truth." Lori requested in a somewhat begging tone. The practical second mother to the family looked really unnerved. Lincoln wondered if Bobby had somehow upset her, but the teenager was more confused when informed that someone had left him something in their mailbox, and that the sports loving sibling had went to retrieve it.

"I'll be as honest as I can," Lincoln shrugged. Anything to make his siblings happy. He thought Lucy was not going anywhere now as she was too curious to know what was going on, even if she didn't outwardly show it. He did not want all his sisters on him again, glad to handle three compared to all ten.

"Lori, here," Lynn entered the room, closing the door behind her. She had a big orange envelope in her hand that felt decently heavy, which she handed over to Lori, Lucy coming over to take a peek. Lincoln just stayed seated on his bed when he blinked something was wrong.

"Ugh…" Lincoln held his head. Everything was beginning to become a slowly compressing rainbow that slowly overwhelmed his vision. The young boy was beginning to panic mentally, until the envelope hit his head and landed in his lap, snapping him out of his mental state, saving him from the near loss of sanity.

"Lincoln, are you listening?" Lynn chimed. Lincoln coughed, glad that she threw the envelope at him. He didn't want to end up lost to a violent assault of colors again, especially during an important conversation.

"Sorry, no, my head started hurting… what did you say?" Lincoln played it off before opened the envelope and reaching inside, pulling out six hundred dollars that was banded together with a ring that looked like a bee with the ruby in its eyes. The young boy reached in and pulled out a piece of paper, a personal letter that, like the money, was meant for only him.

"Hello Mister Loud. I am not going to be back until tomorrow, so I am going to have David print this out on my computer and send it to you. After a lengthy phone call, I was informed not only how you recruited someone else into our 'family' with no effort, but according to David, your lover is quite scary. Hearing that you also took a drug to help save a co-worker with no hesitation and somehow converting a traitor to join us, I cannot ignore it all. I have to award you and your lover for the immensely hard work."

Lincoln was surprised by how much the writer, Nora, praised him. The young boy thought him and his girlfriend had really earned her respect. He then saw a little more writing on the back.

"You have a job assignment tomorrow. Your partner is going to be your lover, head to 1983 Westbrook Avenue in the eastern part of town. It's impossible to miss. It's one of the most popular mechanics workshops, and his staff quit on him suddenly. Good luck, and remember to keep up the good work."

Lincoln looked up to see an upset and angry Lynn and Lori looking at him. Lucy presumably was only upset over the situation. They barely had read any of that letter and what they did see hurt them.

"You didn't hurt yourself at all, did you?" Lynn started one out of many question. Lincoln slid the bee ring onto his other hand's ring finger, being back up to two now. He assumed that Ronnie Anne had gotten a ring of her own, and some cash as a reward. Despite the tenseness of the situation, Lincoln could only keep that same smile. The young boy was very sick of this drug that was preventing him from sleeping, or letting him change expressions unless he got knocked out by another hit to the head.

"No… a crazy man and his friend tried to kill me. That's why I have bruises on my neck. Plus he was going to stab me in the chest," Lincoln knew he had upset Lynn deeply when he had fabricated his lie from last time, but it was time to know how much the truth would hurt even more, what little he could give.

"Someone was going to what?!" Lori reacted about as poorly as he expected, Lynn reacting with a look of horror across her face. Lucy gave no response.

"You wanted me to be honest," Lincoln rhetorically commented. His sisters were all more terrified about inquiring more about the other issues, but they couldn't deafen their hearing just because of something they hated to hear was being spoken.

"And… she said you might suffer problems from an overdose?" Lynn finally spoke up past the tense silence, trying not to draw everyone else in the house's attention yet. If they needed a lot more help convincing their brother, they would get it without hesitation. She began to think he was not allowed to ask for help himself for some odd reason.

"Oh the uh… Laha di… something? I can't pronounce it. Just some guy punched it down my throat, and I think it's kind of why I can't sleep… and why I'm so happy all the time. Trust me; I didn't want to take it. I was told it was just energy candy, upside is it's about gone, I think." Lincoln explained, still thinking back on it, finding it very ironic how he turned down offers of tobacco and liquor, but random candy that he accepted he didn't know was a life jeopardizing drug until now.

"Lincoln! There's a reason everyone says don't trust strangers!" Lori berated him. Lincoln stood up, stretching with a yawn.

"Police are strangers too, you know. So are paramedics and firemen… we only trust them for their uniform," Lincoln began to walk out of the room, carrying the envelope. He motioned the sisters to come with him.

"Come on, I'm hungry. Let's continue in the kitchen," their brother insisted with that same smile of his. Only now that look in his eyes was more disturbing than normal. The three had no words for his response about authority, but they could tell what his position with the law was now, even if several of them were co-workers of his. The four headed downstairs.

"Looks like they're blowing up the pool," Lynn commented, seeing the others outside. Everyone had agreed to bring out the inflatable pool and take it easy. Lincoln did not pay it any mind. It just meant they thankfully did not have to worry about anyone else inside, since they were all out there preparing everything.

"So… you have a girlfriend?" Lori asked while they began to take seats around the grown up table. It did feel weird to be sitting here for a sort of family meeting. Normally that kind of stuff was reserved for the living room.

"Yes, I have a girlfriend, and have had one for the last few months, and I love her very much," Lincoln chuckled. Lori did have a sudden thought cross her mind. Last night when she was texting Bobby, he had said his little sister had come home with a lot of bruises and a black eye as well.

"Ronnie Anne? Wait… you're dating Ronnie Anne still? I thought you two had broken up," Lori said in surprise. She had went on a double date only once with Lincoln and his girlfriend. She had brought her boyfriend in trade. After an incident in school, and Lincoln saying stupid things, they had a slight feigned falling out.

"Yeah, we had to lie about that," the white haired young boy replied while looking through the cabinets, the documents resting before him on the counter. Lynn and Lucy remembered Ronnie Anne very well. They watched their brother try and directly kiss her after listening to their advice, and he got a black eye as result.

"And you're already… you know, doing it?" Lynn spoke up the extra question that was so awkward that no one else had the guts to say. The thought of their young sibling doing these acts was disturbing. The young boy looked over his shoulder at them with a quirked eyebrow. This had actually got his smile to go to a plain face briefly.

"No, I'm not ready to embarrass myself that badly yet," Lincoln laughed at the insult he made about himself, his smile returning fast. The young boy found what he was looking for, resting a bottle of lighter fluid down on the counter, not letting his sisters see it. Their father normally used it for grilling, but it would work for what he needed.

"And before you ask why we kept it secret, it was because I didn't want everyone trying to get in the way of every time we hang out or date. You guys have a pretty good track record of meddling," Lincoln explained. No one argued with him against that, understanding well that they all were like that.

"But it's why I love you all, because you all try to take care of me," he added, to make sure no one misinterpreted his comment or felt insulted.

"That's great! I-I mean… uh… no, I got nothing," Lynn had nothing more she could say without making things more awkward.

"What is your job? Guessing this has something to do with that," Lucy refocused the conversation back on the main topic.

"Can't tell ya," Lincoln shook his head while carefully pouring lighter fluid on the note from Nora before putting it inside the envelope, and then he went onto continuing to carefully pour the lighter fluid over the main envelope. Taking extra effort to make sure none of it got on the counter, or himself.

"Why not?" Lori wondered why. He could be honest about someone trying to kill him, admit to having taken a drug by semi-force, and confessing to his lies about keeping his relationship secret, but could not tell them anything about his job.

"Because I love you all… that's why I got the job to get money to get you all your gifts. Oh and don't worry about my phone I'll get a new one," Lincoln explained as he finished dousing the incriminating note in very flammable liquid, insisting that Lori needn't worry about replacing his phone.

"This job pays well? We really didn't want your savings…" Lynn repeated. Their brother yawned as he turned one of the knobs on the oven, the light flames beginning to start under one of the burners.

"Like I said, I love you all a lot. My life is worthless if it gets in way of yours. Hopefully with the money I make I can help out the house or anything else any of you need," Lincoln explained. That was a common problem in the Loud house, where they had to get things less expensive, like cheaper food for example because they had to make their money last. Making each paycheck last until the next one was difficult, but their parents did their best with good success so far.

"Lincoln, that's not fair for you to use your money on us. It's not your responsibility to take care of the family," Lori stated. Lincoln nodded while holding the envelope in his hands.

"I know that… Everyone has to take care of themselves first before they take care of everyone else… do you guys love me?" Lincoln's smile faded away from his face.

"Lincoln, you don't even need to ask… just come sit down and talk… you're not a burden to us. We love you a lot. All of us do," Lynn declared.

"Our lives would be a mess without you," Lucy nodded. Lori was thinking they were making progress at least. They still could not notice what their brother was doing. He had the chance to beg for help. Ronnie Anne was already involved and he had told them a lot. Maybe it was enough. Lincoln felt his mind beginning to cloud again.

"Come sit down and talk with us. Maybe we could make a cake to surprise everyone with?" Lori offered, thinking some family cooking would help him unwind, especially since he had learnt how to cook better recently.

"That sounds good… I love you all too… that's why I'm doing this," Lincoln lit the document on fire, the lighter fluid making the fire begin to engulf it fast. He tossed the burning paper into the sink.

"What are you doing?!" Lynn stood up and tried to rush over, realizing what he was doing. She was about to turn on the tap water in some desperate attempt to put the flaming document out. However, Lincoln had gotten in front of her and stopped her movement, wrapping his arms around her and keeping her own pinned to her sides.

"Keeping you all safe," he answered. She was too late to realize what was going on to do anything about it, but her brother felt like he was nearly going insane. Lori and Lucy were too stunned to react. The auburn haired girl was furious when the fire began to die out. She broke out of her brother's grasp. Lincoln stood there crossing his arms. There was nothing left in the sink now beyond ashes. The lighter fluid had made the fire accelerate like nitrogen, and burn the paper in a matter of moments.

"That's it! We're telling the others!" Lynn roared. Before she could go for the back door, her brother chimed up.

"Tell them what? That we were going to make them a surprise cake? Not much of a surprise if you tell them," Lincoln replied while turning on the water in the sink, washing all the ashes away and sending them down the drain.

"Lincoln, why did you do this? You need to let us help! You know we really don't want to go telling mom and dad," Lori added while watching Lincoln begin washing his hands calmly, he was trying to make sure that he had no lighter fluid on his palms.

"There is nothing to tell them, expect I'm starting work tomorrow and taking a taxi to get there instead of bothering my dear sister for a ride every day," Lincoln hummed. He was acting like the Mad Batter now, but his temporarily tainted mind was at least able to tell that the drug in his stomach was slowly wearing off. Hopefully by the end of today it would be completely gone.

"You really think they'll believe the three of us are lying?!" Lynn tried to punch him, but he dodged it, shaking his head with a slightly small laugh.

"I'm sure not gonna tell them anything. Sorry, this is for the best," Lincoln told them. They began to hear a light sobbing. Lucy had begun breaking down during this. She was a lot more emotionally strained than she appeared, seeing that her brother had not a millisecond of hesitation with most of his confessions, yet he turned down their help was what pushed her over the ledge.

"If I could take your help, I gladly would. But I can't let you find out, because… I don't know what will happen if you do," Lincoln began to walk off, wanting to get back to his room so he could get his swim trunks to join the others in preparing the pool.

"If you won't tell us yourself… then how about a challenge," Lynn caught his attention. He turned around, leaning back on the wall. Lori was trying to console Lucy, not sure what they could do about this situation.

"A challenge, you say?" He carefully replied. The sports loving sibling poked him in the chest, glaring menacingly into his eyes. A nerve of hers was broken from all he had done and said.

"A fight! You want to act so tough and keep things secret? Then I'll just force'em out of you! If you win, we'll all back off and not say a word, but if I win, you tell us everything!" Lynn declared. Lincoln tilted his head a little. Fighting his own sibling sounded horrible, despite his new fighting skills. Most chances he would mentally force himself to lose so he wouldn't hurt his sporty sister, not like he really could considering her immense training and strength differences. Just then, something crossed his mind.

"That's right… the drug makes it harder to feel pain!" Lincoln recalled. Maddison bragged about one of the effects of the drug, and it was still in his gullet. The white haired boy thought on this for a good minute, he might have a way to win the fight without having to hurt her too much.

"Well? Are you going to say anything? Or are you just gonna go vanish again and leave us all worried?!" Lynn demanded. Lincoln shrugged, his laid back attitude not helping her anger.

"Alright, I'll fight you. First one to beg for mercy is the loser," Lincoln agreed, and so did Lynn, he smiled while watching her go off upstairs to get ready and changed. He looked over to Lori and Lucy who had not paid attention to this part of the situation at all. He felt guilty and had considered dozens of times telling his family. This was Lincoln's best chance to let a few in on the truth without being swamped all at once. It was now or never, and when this fight was over, he could change his mind and still tell them the truth, if it was not for the fear of not knowing what would become of his family if Nora found out he told them everything, he would by now. That was one of his thoughts, and Lincoln knew his sister Lynn would go all out probably to get the fastest cry of mercy from him.

"Time to go get some new bruises."


	23. Give up

"Time to get some new bruises."

Once again, Lincoln was in a ridiculous position in his backyard. He waited for Lynn to come so they could have their hopefully small scuffle. If the young boy lost, he would have to spill every detail with no hesitation, including his job. If his sisters lost, he would be able to rest easy without worry from Lori, Lynn and Lucy trying to press any further for more information out of his mouth.

"My tolerance is pretty high, I think…" Lincoln thought, bending his pointer finger as far back as he could just to test and see how long it would take before it begun hurting. There was no feeling beyond a light pressure, and it currently was as far back as the digit would go.

"So why are you two fighting again?" Leni chimed up, Lori having informed everyone that the two siblings were about to have an actual fight beyond playful roughhousing. Luan got her video camera when Lincoln told her she could record the fight all she wanted.

"I messed up her new shoes," Lincoln spoke the first lie in his head. Lucy stood under the shaded tree, having regained her composure fast enough to watch this battle unfold, but she was really hoping their sports loving sister would win, even if she was not going to outwardly show it.

"A fight over scuffed shoes…?" Leni scratched her head. Even her somewhat tiny mind could tell that was stupid. There was a lot more of a tense atmosphere around everything too. But she was not going to judge what her family fought over, considering how often she and Lori bickered in their room over countless reasons.

"You got this, bro," Luna gave a thumbs up to Lincoln while she had Lily in her lap. Lana and Lola seemed to be rooting for him too. Lori remained quiet, having done the rarest of actions of her own, she had muted her cellphone.

"You do realize the odds of him winning are a tremendously measly 1.30% chance, right?" Lisa spoke. Lynn had more strength and even some minor muscles, as well as actual training for fighting, so the infant prodigy was siding with logic on who she thought was going to win.

"What are the 'chances' of that?" Luan chimed in with a groan worthy pun. Lincoln was the only one to really laugh a little at it, or at least give it an acknowledging snicker. The white haired boy looked down at the new ruby bee ring. He had received another creepy coincidence in his apparel, the black widow practically representing his slowly draining life, and the bee almost being some symbol reminding him of the constant stinging guilt he had in his heart.

"Looks like things are about to start," Lori commented as they saw Lynn enter into the backyard, wearing a karate gi that had a black belt around her waist. Lincoln kept his eyes on his upset slightly older sibling, watching her kick off her shoes while getting ready across from him.

"Are you ready?" Lynn asked. Unknowingly to them all, their brother had a plan that seemed to be his main confidence booster for this.

"Ready when you are. It's been more than three hours since I had a new bruise on my face," Lincoln replied, joking about his own current condition of his bruise-wracked body. He thought maybe this would be a good thing, as he might learn some easier to perform moves from Lynn during this fight. That comment he made only seemed to anger her more. They watched Lisa step up to the side with an air horn that she had been tossed to signal when to start.

"I'm going to assume you both know the basic rules of combat etiquette. Otherwise, first one to beg for mercy or gets knocked out loses," Lisa explained the simple rules. As long as no one was aiming specifically for the lower pelvis region of their opponent, then everything else was fine. Lisa pressed the air horn's button down hurting everyone's eardrums as result before she moved.

"You asked for this!" Lynn didn't waste any time charging at Lincoln. Seeing that grin of his was unsettling, but she was going to take more pleasure after this fight once she won and wiped that cocky smile off his face. He knew he might feel her full effort. That black belt from kickboxing wasn't that color from a bad run in the washer, as much as he wished it was.

"Now or never, Lincoln," Lincoln told himself. Lynn had stomped one foot into the ground as her leg raised and kicked him right in the stomach. He took the hit, only being slightly knocked back, but he stood his ground. The young boy was immensely relieved when he felt no pain from the attack, and his auburn haired sister was not caring about it. Lincoln knew his plan could work now.

"You call that a kick? Hah! Come on, I've seen you crush flies with more effort," Lincoln said, brushing it off. It seemed impossible, but he managed to make her madder. Lynn immediately threw out a jab, hitting him in the nose. Lincoln felt his head shake a little from that. The nose was the most sensitive part of the face after all. By default it made his eyes water partially. However, that was just a setup as he felt her fist collide with his jaw from an uppercut that actually knocked him onto his back.

"I can't feel much of it now, but I'm sure I will later," Lincoln thought while lying there momentarily, clearing the water from his eyes to fix his vision. Just because he couldn't feel the pain did not mean he wouldn't later.

"You give up yet?" Lynn called out with a smile. The Loud sisters were a bit surprised at how aggressive both were being. They watched Lincoln push himself back onto his feet, rubbing his head, glad he at least had control of his facial muscles back so he was not stuck with a goofy grin. Just another sign he hoped that the drug was nearly gone. The young mafia worker knew he had to be a lot more nerve striking with his taunting.

"What? Do I need to hurt myself for you? Come on, Lynn, you're the one always going on about how girls can be better at sports than boys," Lincoln exclaimed. His sister lived up to that motto a lot for sports teams. By saying this, and he really hated to, he knew his older sister was done taking it easy now. Exactly what he wanted.

"Sheesh…! Too far…" Luna commented. Going after someone else's practical personal motivation or gender was going overboard slightly.

"I know both are crazy… like, more than usual," Leni agreed, not sure if they should stop this now.

"Fine then! I'll show you!" Lynn roared. Lincoln put up his arms for guard, receiving another hard kick that threatened to shake his bones while his guard was up. He suddenly had his legs sweep kicked out from under him. A small fall was the least of his worries. Lincoln's eyes gazed up to Lynn spinning around before delivering a hard roundhouse kick to his face that sent him slamming even harder into the ground. The brother was glad she was not trying to use her wrestling moves on him so far. If she did, he would the feel agony from receiving a submission hold until the morning.

"Ouch…" Lori cringed a little. That looked gruesome from her position. Lucy was not taking her eyes off the fight so far. Lynn fixed her position, waiting for her brother to cry out for mercy.

"No way…" Lynn's eyes widened, seeing Lincoln getting back onto his feet. Only now he had blood coming from his nose, and his bottom lip was busted as well.

"You sure you don't want to give up? You're looking tired," Lincoln commented, ignoring his own physical condition. Lynn was panting, drained from trying to put every last ounce of force into her attacks. This wasn't a fight where she had to put up a defensive. Her brother was actively letting her beat him up, his plan had been to hopefully exhaust her by making her more and more angry, until she could barely move and he would go for a simple pin for the win with only himself being harmed.

"…this is starting to scare me," Lola whispered to Lana.

"You're telling me," Lana shivered. It took Lincoln a moment to realize he was bleeding again, but now he had lost all care for the sight of his own blood. He was used to seeing it outside his body at this point.

"Come on. I'll let you hit me as much as you want. I deserve it all, right sis?" Lincoln stood there with his arms wide open, waiting for her next attack. Lynn's nostrils flared like a bull, until she heard him comment that he deserved this punishment. The teenage girl looked down at the blood on her knuckles and feet from him, and the damage she had done to him. She started to wonder if she was as bad as the people who were supposedly out to end his life.

"I give up," Lynn looked away, ashamed to use those words. That was a shock to most of the family. Lincoln watched as she went off back inside to get changed and cleaned off. The poor sister felt like she became a hypocrite, wanting to protect her brother and take care of him, but then ending up hurting him. No matter what the context was, it didn't make her feel any better.

"Wow. He really won," Luna looked to Luan who looked disappointed while looking to her camera.

"That was starting to get exciting too," Luan said, guessing it was better that one surrendered, instead of being knocked unconscious. Lily had been more interested in a caterpillar that had crawled on her arm, causing her to giggle and laugh while playing with it.

"You okay, Lincoln?" Leni came to him to try and help stop the bleeding, crouching down to his height. Lincoln did not respond immediately. He was starting to feel pain overwhelming him from several points in his body, but he did his best to suppress it. He saw Lori over by Lucy, trying to comfort her in case she was upset again.

"No, Leni, I'm not… I need to go cleanup," Lincoln went off inside, trying not to let the pain show.

"Everything's kind of fuzzy but… ugh…" Lincoln hated this feeling. He hated every bit of it. It was like his brain was trying to reboot itself. He looked back outside to everyone while standing at the front door, most of his sisters trying to get back to work on the inflatable pool.

"Lucy! Lori! Come help me please," Lincoln requested, catching them by surprise. The goth girl had no hesitation to agree. Lori sighed, rubbing her head, not wanting another drama ordeal to occur, but they wanted to listen to their brother right now, mainly because he sounded like his old self again, or at least his tone did. As Lincoln's mind refreshed to be less vague, he felt too overwhelmed with guilt from how upset he made them all.

"I have to quit punishing myself. If I don't take risks, I'll never get rid of this debt…"


	24. Cry For Help

"You sure you don't want to take a shower? You're covered in dirt and blood," Lori asked her younger brother after that fight outside. Lincoln had received the only violence from it, and yet had still won but now was covered of mess.

"Not really. I need to talk to you all first. I don't know how much time I have left," Lincoln shook his head. He had cleaned the blood off his face, which was all that really mattered to him. Lucy shared a room with Lynn, where the two tended to tolerate one another despite the drastic differences in their personalities. The only time the sports lover really could complain was when their goth sibling was practicing her dark rituals, during the night.

"Time left?" Lucy asked for clarity as they arrived to her bedroom door. Lincoln had a sheepish smile that he could not keep up long. Nearly every last part of his body was in pain and it was steadily increasing. Lincoln knew that the drug was about to vanish, and his body would now recover on its own, but force him into unconsciousness due to having nothing replenishing his stamina.

"Yeah… no, I'm not dying, I just think the drugs nearly completely gone… and I haven't slept in two days, so… Just make sure I don't hit my head on anything when I black out, please." Lincoln explained. With the energy booster almost finished off, his body and brain were both slowly trying to force him to sleep.

"I'm just glad that now you're not acting so… creepy," Lori commented. That constant smile and wanting to wait on all his siblings hand on foot was disturbing, but she hated her younger brother being practically tortured by being awake twenty-four seven. He was more afraid of turning into someone like the mad batter.

"Thanks," Lincoln chuckled as they entered the room, seeing the drastically different halves of the room; one being messy and sporty, and the other a little cleaner, albeit every object looking like they have a monster soul residing within it.

"I had the door closed for a reason you know…" Lynn chimed while lying on her bed, looking at the ceiling where some posters resided in plenty.

"Yeah, and I opened it for a better reason," Lincoln replied. She was back in her normal clothes. He requested that the door be closed and locked. Lucy nodded while doing it thankfully she wasn't in the mood to scare anybody since the last twenty minutes.

"And it's my room, too…" Lucy reminded.

"Yes, I know…" Lynn sat up, turning to her brother, "So what is it, Lincoln? Did you come to trick me into hitting you more? Because I'm not doing it."

Lincoln shook his head, having just tried to wear her down in that fight by angering her with verbal taunts, which she was now aware of, he was not proud of doing that at all.

"Well, you beat some sense into me, and out of me. Pretty sure some sense is leaking out right now, but I'm realizing I need to quit acting so cowardly and start taking risks… I need to tell you about my job… err, jobs? …I don't know what to describe it as."

"You're really going to tell us…?" Lori couldn't help but doubt this, but supposedly receiving a response to inquiring about his job was more than they normally got, since he usually refused to comment about it.

"Okay. What lies do you have for us this time?" Lynn's words were sharp enough to cut him like a knife, but he could not pay it any mind. If they didn't believe him, then he deserved it. Lori took a seat on the floor beside Lucy who sat on her own bed. Lincoln did his best to withstand the pain.

"Well… where do you want me to start?" Lincoln asked his slightly older sibling as he sat down on the bed beside her, his legs weary. He anticipated being booted off by her at any moment.

"…what do you do for work?" Lynn requested first, not even looking at him. Lincoln understood that he really upset her, and he had gotten so much money from that letter earlier which is what made her ask such a question.

"My job is to fill in for whatever I get called in to do. You know… say, if a place is short staffed or workers protest or something, they can call my boss and request as many workers as needed. Downside for anyone who needs help is that they have to pay us three times as much," Lincoln explained to the best of his own understanding, leaving out that he never saw a lone mafia member head out to fill in for the job. It was always at least two people who went together, and presumably due to the constant threat of a murder that may take place if not for carefulness.

"Three times as much? I think I'd rather do all the work myself before going that route," Lori said. It sounded so dumb to her. Lincoln nodded, but he never thought into it too much. He just did what he was ordered to do like a good goon of Nora's. He looked down at his two ruby animal rings. Lynn refused to continue her line of questions, letting the other two sisters do it instead.

"How'd you get the job?" Lucy piped up since her older sisters would not in their respective state of anger and confusion. Lincoln did consider lying about why and how, but he decided against it.

"I caught someone breaking into an empty house and went to see what was going on…Turned out to be some sort of reserve thief that was trying to hide her money so her ex couldn't get her hands on it…Next thing I know she offers me twenty-five hundred dollars to hide the briefcase for her until she could pick it up," Lincoln explained. That price rung familiar with his sisters who looked to each other.

"That's how you got the money for the gifts?" Lori chimed up. Lincoln nodded, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Yep. I'll sum things up fast for you. I borrowed money from the mafia, about two thousand five hundred to be exact, and now have a huge debt to work off in trade, so… They brought me on board as one of theirs. That's what these rings represent, they're bonded with my flesh." Lincoln showed his black widow and bee ruby rings. They were almost like miniature trophies. The details they had very carefully put into them was a nice sight to look at repeatedly due to how beautiful their crafting was.

"The mafia?!" Lynn shrieked. She had been so paranoid about the rings on him and the cop who brought him in, and she figured the ring was not possible to take off. However, this was not the answer she expected to this.

"Yeah. I-I got the money for all your gifts from the mafia," Lincoln finally spoke the real truth on how he got all their presents for them, or at least how he got all the money for all the expensive things. He knew this was upsetting news for them to hear, and he did not want them to blame themselves for upsetting him due to his stress. He was glad they cared for him this much, but hoped that no one told their parents or their other family members yet.

"If you only took two thousand five hundred, how come you can't just pay it back? You clearly get paid better than mom or dad," Lucy asked. Her brother had literally gotten six hundred dollars earlier from that envelope, indicating his work with the mafia paid better than their parents could ever hope to equal.

"I wish I could, but that's only how much I borrowed. I don't know how much I owe. There's interest apparently, and I haven't asked how much I'm in for yet… but the mafia doesn't want money back. They want workers. My only option is to work it off," Lincoln answered. He was in the dark on his true debt price himself. Tomorrow, before he went to his next job, he wanted to visit Nora to inquire about that and a few other things.

"Why would you do something that stupid?!" Lynn wailed. Her brother's eyes fluttered as he shook himself out of the momentary daze once again. The pain was getting worse, especially in his stomach.

"I wanted to get you all gifts and the opportunity showed itself, so… I took it. I didn't know what I was getting into at first, believe me, but now it's too late to go back," Lincoln explained. Each minute his vision was fading, and he hoped they would listen to his plight once they gave him a chance to speak without having to answer a query, "The only reason I joined and took the money was… well, because everyone was fighting so much. I just wanted to give everyone something to just take all the tension away."

Silence seemed to take over. The family members could not tell which was worse, when they originally thought he had given up his savings for them, or risk his life working it off for the mob.

"Gosh, Lincoln…" Lori could only say to pierce the silence.

"…how can I be hard on the one who gave me those tickets?" Lynn's thoughts began to soothe her nerves when she looked at the Rosetta charity tickets she had pinned over her bed by a pushpin, as if to supply her good dreams when she slumbered for the event.

"I do thank you from the deep dark bleak place in my body that my soul used to inhabit," Lucy thanked him once again, her skull necklace still cherished by her than any other gift she had gotten in the last few months. Their brother's thirteenth birthday was coming up soon, and she felt bad that he had this horrible burden on his shoulders, even if his girlfriend was helping him now.

"That's why I don't mind doing this… because… well, I feel like I have my life figured out now like I have a purpose," Lincoln explained, even if he was the one who helped keep this family together and away from each other's throats.

"I understand if you say no, but I really need your help. I can't handle this alone anymore. I've made friends at work and have someone I love dearly working with as a partner who also taught me how to fight better. But still, I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack from all the stress," Lincoln rubbed his aching head, before he felt his three sisters all hug him as a group hug of four.

"Of course we'll help! …Sorry for beating you up out there. If it makes you feel better, I needed the exercise. After all, we're going to be playing the Rosetta charity together," Lynn had a grin, reminding her brother that she was planning on taking whoever got her these tickets with her to the charity event to compete.

"It would be good to see if I can find any other dark places to go to if I ever need to," Lucy claimed, aware of how much more she would be forced out than she liked, but thought it would be better to be out from home than hear her parents constantly complain how much of her summer she was going to waste if she spent it inside her room.

"It'll suck that I can't tell Bobby about this… but I can't just let you do this alone. You need an adult with you all," Lori usually declared herself as the one in charge when their parents were out, though tended to fall through on that. It was a bit unnerving to them all that they couldn't tell anyone else in their family beyond Lily about their agreement to go help Lincoln with his mafia work. The three sisters were over stressed from the last day and a half of events that happened because of their own discoveries on this. They didn't want to imagine what would happen if their parents or the others found out at least all at once. They just had to wait for the right time to unveil it all.

"Lincoln?" Lucy chirped, the three hearing no word from their brother. Lincoln's head was hung back in the hug, his eyes closed. He had fallen asleep at the end of the confessions. Lori couldn't help but laugh a little at this. Lynn helped lay her younger sibling down on her bed.

"Guess he needed it sometime soon. Come on, let's leave him be to catch up on sleep. I'm sure the pool's ready now," Lynn insisted they go out and enjoy the cool water under the hot sun and let Lincoln get the much needed rest he needed. The drug had finally deteriorated and his body had given out when the energy booster was gone. The three sisters left the room, Lynn and Lucy happy to let their brother rest in their room until he woke up, Lori turning off the light before closing the door.

"Hopefully the worst of everything's over and we can start on a better path tomorrow."


	25. Drowning

Lincoln's eyes fluttered open. He stood in his room, where he noticed two bags laid out on his bed, one stuffed with clothes and the other various things in it from money to his favorite and prized comics. What stuck out most to him in the second bag was an odd, orange colored decade-old book.

"Lincoln Loud's family album…" Lincoln recognized the front of it with ease. On the bookshelf in the living room was a rainbow assortment of books of various colors, each one belonging to a separate family member, their parents having separate ones as well as one together.

"I can't believe I ruined my own life… for everyone," Lincoln said, looking over the tons of happy memories captured within each Polaroid. He smiled, seeing one photo depicting him around Lily's age with an older cellphone model in his mouth while being in a younger Lori's arms. It was supposed to be a small cute photo that got unintentionally sabotaged like most of the family pictures.

Each page Lincoln flipped sent him down another few years of memories. The singing and guitar practice with Luna, the sports games and physical exhaustion with Lynn, the attempts to educate Leni which rarely went well, the first time he even had the hard work he put in to help Lucy complete dark rituals, as long as he didn't actively get involved with it, the dress up and makeup wearing with Lola, the rough play with Lana, helping test Lisa's experiments, all the pranks he helped setup, create and fell into from Luan, and all the pictures of the family pets. It all concluded with welcoming Lily into the world and doing his best to help raise her with the rest of his family to make sure she turned out alright to the best of their ability.

"Why did I have to ruin it all?" Lincoln heard his thoughts echo around the room. He had not even opened his mouth. He rested the photo album on his bed by the duffel bags, rubbing his eyes since they felt somewhat dry.

"What the…?!" Lincoln gasped. The photo album had vanished. The very photos he had reminisced over were now scattered all over his bed and walls, and as he then noticed, he was no longer in any of those photos. His entire being was shadowed out like someone had spent careful time and work to trace him out perfectly with a dark marker.

"W…wha…?" Lincoln fell onto the floor. His eyes tried to keep adjusted to his surroundings, when he noticed this nearby television, and the words on the flickering static of his screen.

"Nothing will change once you're dead."

It kept repeating over and over in various text fonts, changing colors and sizes, trying to induce a seizure for the terrified thirteen year old. Lincoln had to grip his ears, hearing loud voices piercing his eardrums and attempting to embed into his brain.

"What happened to Lincoln?"

"Where'd our little bro go?"

"Do you think he ran away?"

"What if he got kidnapped?!"

"Imagine what those horrible people could do to him!"

"I believe that the note left on his bed was a suicide note…"

"No! Stop it!" Lincoln's eyes squeezed shut tight. When every one of his siblings' voices stopped torturing his mind, the young boy opened his eyes again. His room was now empty. Nothing was there, not even the tiny window that he once had. Suddenly, something kicked open his door, breaking it off the hinges and sending it to the floor. Lincoln stood up, preparing for the worst, but saw nothing but darkness. Not even the sun could pierce this void. The young boy was too afraid to leave the confines of his own room.

"Your life ended days ago," Lincoln heard, turning around. Standing there before him was a girl with long white hair and an orange long shirt and blue pants. This person, except the opposite gender, looked just like him.

"Who are you?"

"I think the question is what I am. Even so, I don't know. What do you think I am? Do you think I'm your consciousness? A manifestation of your guilt? Your feminine side? Whatever the choice, I am you. I'm just here to tell you that you died days ago," his female counterpart replied. Lincoln had no idea what to respond with by now. He had started to lose his mind again. Whatever she was, he could take some comfort in imagining she was only in his mind.

"I don't know about you, me, but the dead don't usually wander around," Lincoln retorted, but assumed it was more a referral to the mafia ordeal like a metaphor for sealing his fate since that was the most recent of his own life changing events.

"Well… I'm just here to remind you what is going to happen inevitably. Look down," his female clone said. Lincoln did just that, only to see water underneath him. His room had vanished and he was now in the ocean where no one else was around. Now even his clone vanished. Lincoln fell into the water, feeling something pulling him down.

Lincoln had no clue what to do anymore. He closed his eyes, willing to just accept whatever he wound up falling to in the bottom of the ocean. During this descent to darkness, Lincoln suddenly felt hands on his back, stopping him from falling further.

"Lincoln? Lincoln!" He heard voices calling out for him. He held his hand out to the top of the water, several other arms reached out grabbing his wrist he felt himself quickly returning to the surface.

"Gah!" Lincoln gasped, suddenly jerking awake, panting. He looked around, his body beginning to calm down. His eye turned to the nearby alarm clock on the nightstand that read 1:30am.

"Huh… it was just a nightmare…" Lincoln coughed. He was still in Lynn and Lucy's room, where he was allowed to sleep in their bed until he was fully functional again. He then noticed Lynn and Lucy lying on both sides in their pajamas. He was glad to know they cared a lot about him so much, that they decided to both sleep with their brother to comfort him tonight, and get hopefully some stress off him and themselves.

"Heh… I'm glad you're all going to help me…" Lincoln thought in his head, not wanting to wake them up over a nightmare. The young boy's injuries were healing up nicely, and he felt decently rested, but he wasn't going to disturb his precious sisters in the middle of the night while they slept. He smiled as he lay down on the pillows the three shared, wrapping his arms around Lucy and Lynn, feeling them both snuggling into him, despite their slumberous states.

"Thanks for saving me from drowning…" Lincoln whispered while closing his eyes ready to go back to dreamland to get more rest, he had to make up for having been awake for two days straight after all. The night felt peaceful, crickets were chirping outside under the twinkling stars as the air blew through the trees, knocking off the occasional leaf. The young boy fell asleep fast in the comfort of his siblings Lynn and Lucy had both decided to sleep with him that night, to try and comfort him better since he had taken the sports loving girls bed anyway they continued their slumber for the night, after all tomorrow was the first of a many rough days.

Lincoln sat in the back by the window of the family van, dubbed Vanzilla. Lucy was beside him on the best spot in the van while Lynn was in the passenger seat up front with Lori who was in the driver's seat. It was early in the morning, and Lincoln felt a lot better now that he had an actual good long rest.

"Thanks again for doing this, Lori," Mrs Loud spoke, holding Lily in her arms. Their baby sister was in her chinchilla costume again with her bright smile, giggling and cooing while playing with her costumes tail.

"I don't mind. It would be pretty boring if it was just me and Bobby at the campsite," Lori insisted it was nothing, having made up a lie that she was taking the three siblings camping with her boyfriend. Their parents were happy with this, but refused to let everyone go together. The last time the family tried to have a personal camping trip, it was a disaster.

"If anything happens, just call us. And Lincoln, be good and listen to Lori, okay?" Mr Loud ordered, their parents still not over the traumatic shock of their son almost being arrested for fighting random people.

"Don't worry dad, I will," Lincoln nodded, reassuring he wouldn't give Lori and Bobby any trouble.

"Bye, mom and dad. We love you," Lori told their parents goodbye before beginning to back out of the driveway, the parents watching the car drive off down the road and out of sight.

"Well that was easy," Lucy stated. Lying to their family wasn't as hard as most of them thought. Only Lisa really had the skill of being able to pay attention to detail enough to find discrepancies in lies. It was either that or their parents were just wanting to make sure everyone was happy and alright and to try and keep their only son out of trouble, which they entrusted the three sisters with that task.

"Yeah… So where are we going?" Lynn requested. Lincoln had only told them they were going to pay a visit to his boss before he went to work at his next job assignment.

"The deeper part of Royal Woods, it's kind of to the east," Lincoln explained as he went into more detail about exactly where to head to. Lori was not too cheery to hear where this place was, having not heard the best of things from this part of town, but she nodded.

"I'm so excited, and nervous!" Lynn said. Lucy was feeling the same usual unchanged deadpan face. Lincoln tried to relax for the ride while their older sister drove, but he doubted things would be easy, especially negotiating with Nora. He had long since informed them who his boss was, and his sisters were upset with hearing that her job as CPS worker was a lie.

"Let's just hope Nora lets you three join."


	26. Negotiations

"Is this the place?" Lori asked as the van pulled up toward the mansion-sized workplace. The entrance fence however was chained shut, and not just by one set of chains, but dozens.

"Yeah, this is it. I think we gotta use the side entrance," Lincoln stated. Lynn and Lucy found this very odd and suspicious. Lori was more nervous about what they might find once they did get in there more than anything. Lincoln had learnt about the two alternative entrances into the building during his stay here the other day. The four siblings all got out of the van before following their brother.

"How do I do this again…?" Lincoln wondered, the four standing in front of a scanner that had been hidden behind several bricks. The preteen had been left completely out of the loop when it came to this information. He had no clue how to get past it.

"Maybe it's an eye scanner," Lucy suggested.

"It's worth a shot," Lincoln shrugged, leaning in. He saw the red line run across his face. A few seconds later, a giant red X appeared on the screen, indicating denial of entry.

"No, it isn't that," Lincoln scratched his head, trying the more obvious option by using his hand, and placing it on the scanner. Again, denial of entry.

"Think it might just be busted," Lori claimed. They might be better off trying to climb the fence more than anything. Their brother turned his back to the scanner, leaning on it, his elbow being placed on the monitor by accident while he tried to think.

"Maybe they don't have me registered yet or something… that or I'm fired, in which case if I suddenly vanish one night, just let me say this in advance, I love you all very much," Lincoln told them. If this was a sign of his terminated employment, then he was dead with no other routes to go through, but he had not had either of his fingers chopped off yet, so that was a good sign. The bee ring was not even merged with his flesh yet.

"Looks like an elbow scanner," Lynn could not help but laugh a little. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow, looking at the monitor to see a big green circle of approval. Some of the bricks moved aside to reveal a doorway.

"Getting creepier by the minute," Lori said as they all went inside, the doorway closing behind them seconds after they entered. A few minutes of walking led them into the actual building itself, where they noticed a lot of his co-workers around, either resting, eating or doing various other tasks within the building. All the security guards normally stationed outside were now inside.

"What's going on here?" Lincoln questioned a nearby guard. Lori, Lucy and Lynn all noticed watchful eyes on them. Everyone had taken notice of their hands without any rings on them. With their brother leading them though, the three were safe from being thrown out or worse for the moment.

"Lazzerson is here, and to ensure everyone's safety, we go into lock down mode so that no one outside of our group attempts to sabotage the meeting," the guard explained.

"Oh…" Lincoln was stunned. Lazzerson was one of the rival mafia gang leaders. All he remembered hearing about him was that drug addicts were his puppets, and that he was able to capture those marionettes with such ease. The young boy was thankful for not seeing anyone from the green plant emeralds group, at least not yet, but now the boss was supposedly on their territory.

"I need to see Nora. Please, it's really important…" Lincoln was about to continue when someone else called out to him.

"Lincoln! Hey!" Ronnie Anne ran over to him, panting. She was happy to see her boyfriend again, worried that he would not arrive.

"Ronnie Anne! Am I glad to see you," Lincoln exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend instantly into a tight hug. She was happy to return this embrace, but then noticed the other loud siblings standing right nearby, watching the two's embrace.

"Lincoln, what's going on?" Ronnie Anne quirked. She was suspicious that Lori might inform her older brother, Bobby, of what she was doing. Lincoln caught onto her fear pretty fast, understanding why. However, his sisters spoke before him.

"Lincoln told us everything," Lori stated, aware of their ongoing relationship.

"We're here to help you two out," Lynn claimed.

"We promised to keep things secret too," Lucy added. Ronnie Anne gained a smile, relieved to know her boyfriend had finally pleaded for help to at least a few of his family members. Lincoln noticed a new ring on his girlfriend's other hand, resembling a small bird carrying the ruby in its talons. Lincoln received a quick kiss to his lips that made him blush a little.

"Heheh… Thanks, Ronnie Anne. Can you tell me where Nora is? I need to talk to her. Do you know what happened?" Lincoln asked. His girlfriend pointed toward their boss's office, the usual place their rude leader resided.

"Lazzerson waltzed in here. One of the enemy gang leaders. I didn't even know who he was at first, but apparently Nora called him over because our guards caught someone hanging around the building who would be working for him," Ronnie Anne explained what had happened, with no clue how volatile the exchange might be. Lincoln hated to imagine who Lazzerson was exactly. He sounded scary and a bit insane, using drugs to get free labor from addicts. But he would have find out what he looked like soon enough.

"Thanks, Ronnie. I'll be right back," Lincoln told everyone before heading off to Nora's office. His family and Ronnie Anne were awkwardly left here, the dark skinned girl guessing she could be relaxed when talking to them, presuming her boyfriend had told them everything already.

Lincoln did not take long to reach Nora's office, and he knocked.

"Busy, please! Return later!" Nora called out. The white haired boy guessed the meeting was not over yet. He hoped they had not arrived to the very start of it. He was going to return to his family and girlfriend before hearing another voice ring out.

"Nah, come on in! Things are boring when ya get left alone with this witch," a lighter tone called in reply. Lincoln heard arguing from his boss, but he decided to just barge in, not wanting to wait for them to decide on whether or not to actually give him permission to enter.

"Hey boss, sorry if I'm late," Lincoln apologized. Nora was behind her desk, looking as miserable as ever. Sitting across from her was a younger man wearing a pink shirt and white pants, his hair done into a spiky style which Lincoln would expect a friend of Luna's to have. The man had stacks of rings on both hands, depicting various types of flowers with emeralds.

"Mister Loud, I do not care about your tardiness. I care that you aren't at your assignment however," Nora stated, frustrated. Lincoln could assume why there was a little bit of white smoke in the room, and the source was a blunt in the visitor's mouth.

"Well, I came to talk to you about my family… uh, are you Lazzerson?" Lincoln guessed who the second individual was, the man giving a thumbs up.

"Lazzerson Cenvary. It's a pleasure to meet you," Lazzerson introduced himself. It was quite strange to be in the same room as a nemesis, since he was running a rival mafia. Lincoln recalled hearing David talk about it before on his first job, but Lazzerson seemed a lot more calm and nicer than he heard.

"Mister Loud, I do not care about your family discovering anything right now. I'm dealing with a man sending his cronies over to most likely attack our people," Nora repeated the situation angrily.

"Say it all you want, Nora. I don't control all my men, but I've never heard or seen a one matching that weirdo's description. Your paranoid guards have captured like twenty people in the last week 'aven't they?" Lazzerson retorted. His confidence was paramount, but he was not in his right mind. Lincoln couldn't tell who was worse, his own alcoholic boss or the other mafia boss who clearly smoked weed all the time.

"If you want to know who the guy works for, why not just check for a ring?" Lincoln quirked. It seemed like an obvious solution to the situation, no one was allowed in any of the groups unless they had their factions ring style and jewel embedded within them.

"He has none on. He also has two missing fingers," Nora declared. The person either cut their own fingers off in an effort to get closer without people's guards being as high, or some other crazy plan set up by the man with the blunt in his mouth.

"This is ridiculous! I haven't broken any rules of turf war. You should look at Jayzo about that. That lunatic will do anything to kill off either of us," Lazzerson declared, referring to the other mafia leader, he was not wanting to stay around here running in metaphorical circles for this conversation. He stood up and left. As he passed by Lincoln, he blew a puff of smoke in his face, making him cough.

"Cough! Wheeze!" The white haired boy tried to clear himself from the smoke. Once the office door closed, he returned to focusing his attention on Nora who had gotten her usual liquor bottle out from the desk, her head burning like a ticking bomb.

"Before you chug that down and pass out, can I talk to you, boss?" Lincoln wanted to hurry up and talk to her, so he could get to his next job before his temporary boss would get mad at him and demand a refund on their services. He was confused on what Lazzerson was talking about when he mentioned the rules of turf war.

"So about your family, correct? What happened? You need me to come make you another excuse?" Nora did not even get a shot glass, and just began chugging the alcohol straight from the bottle. A little disgusted, Lincoln pulled out his wallet, pulling out a picture of his entire family in a big group photo and resting it on the table for her to see.

"No. Three of them want to join. I told them the truth because I trust them a lot," Lincoln pointed out Lucy Lynn and Lori in the picture, his boss taking it and looking at the photo.

"You already recruited your girlfriend, Mister Loud. I don't exactly know how well people do if their co-workers are their family… Though to be fair, we are in need of more hands. Do they have any specialties or skills?" Nora recalled the entire family pretty well. She had been surrounded by them multiple times during her visit the other day. The young preteen scratched his head, trying to think on that.

"Lucy's great at sneaking around, as well as poetry and dabbles in dark arts. Lynn's really strong and athletic, and she's great at a lot of sports too. And Lori… she's good at multitasking?" Lincoln explained to the best of his abilities, doubting Nora wanted to hear from the sisters themselves. The young boy did not really have much in mind when it came to the eldest sister, but he had seen her doing lots of things while being on her cellphone simultaneously.

"Those are quite unique talents… but look, Mister Loud lets be real here; your family is giant. I let a few in, then they all might want in. No matter how hard you try to keep them in the dark, they will eventually figure it out…" the black haired woman stated while putting her liquor away, coughing slightly. Lincoln knew she probably had dug up as much information as she could on his entire family beyond just himself.

"Nora, I know the risk, but I made my mind up. I'm not going to get anything done without their help. I'll be able to work more efficiently and have less stress on me with them around. Look at what Ronnie Anne did. David might be dead if not for her," Lincoln hated having to talk like he was in some political debate. It wasn't like him. Sadly his choice of words needed to be picked a lot more carefully, if he could convince Nora that they all would be assets to their group, then he hoped that she would not hesitate on accepting them.

"Mister Loud, knowing your family's size, I can safely assume your mother and father have probably had well over ten abortions. I can presume most of you are accidents at best, and at worse none of you were ever really wanted. All I can see in the three you addressed, is someone who inevitably is going to commit suicide, another who will be paralyzed one day, and someone who will be macking on anyone in this group, like a prostitute. Judging by your natural hair color, you probably are adopted on top of that."

Lincoln felt his eye twitch, he cared nothing about the adoption statement. Implying that their parents wanted none of them, or that most of them were accidents. Lucy was gothic, but she was never depressed or suicidal. She just didn't express her emotions as much, just like most goths. Lynn knew the risks of overdoing it with sports and would never risk paralyzing herself. The comment about Lori was the top of the needle that hit his nerve.

"You can't insult us like that! We're Louds!"

"I don't care what your last names are. People can be read very easily, and I've had plenty of experience reading people," Nora claimed. Lincoln let out a long exhale of frustration.

"Will THIS change your mind about them?" Lincoln snapped. He reached forward, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her down hard. Nora's face hit the desk. Then with all of this strength, he tossed her out of her chair with his one arm, letting go of her hair as she fell. Lincoln stood there panting, infuriated. He couldn't believe what all he had done, he had acted on nothing but impulse and fury.

"Ough… your… confidence in them is quite high," Nora groaned as she stood back up. Her face had a huge gash across her nose, the alcohol did nothing to dull the pain. Lincoln did not reply, he would be glad to have his hands chopped off before he let anyone get away about saying anything bad about his family like that.

"Huh…?" Lincoln saw Nora pull out a box from her desk, resting it in front of him and opening it. Inside of it were dozens upon dozens of animal ruby rings lined up, standing perfectly and shining a little as if beckoning to be worn.

"You've talked me into it… and beat me into it. I'll let them in… mainly because if it weren't for you and your lover, another one of ours would have died, and you somehow got another insane one to commit to us and only us. I suppose that earns a reward," Nora claimed. She was only permitting this as a favor for him saving David's life and converting Maddison over to solely dedicate herself to their mafia, at the cost of some of her fingers.

"Thank you, ma'am," Lincoln bowed a little. She was going to let him pick what rings his sisters would receive. It only took a moment before he saw the three rings that he assumed they would like, and once he got the rings, Lincoln made his way to leave, thankful to have gotten his sisters into the group, even if it took some violence behind it. He would at some point be forced to apologize to his boss about this act, but he couldn't bring himself to stand for what she said.

"Ronnie Anne was right… Being assertive is great."


	27. Next Job

**Authors Note: First off, I am considering doing some one shots, let me know if you guys want to see one shots from me, now then to the main thing. Let me just say, thank you all for 20k views, I feel such warmth in my heart knowing I can make people happy, I work hard to give you dear readers, a chapter a day. I know how rough some days can be, and I want to be able to make this fic something everyone can just come to at one point in the day, and read the chapter, and tune in for the next the day after. Thank you all again for the support, enjoy.**

Lincoln walked straight back to his sisters, finding them with Ronnie Anne in the medical bay, where the guards were taking everything off lockdown now that Lazzerson was gone. Ronnie Anne had informed the Loud sisters that they were required to get medically examined by Dr. Jeffrey before they could do anything.

"Sorry for the wait. Good news, you're all in," Lincoln announced to his three sisters. They and Ronnie Anne all seemed happy to hear this.

"Really? How'd you manage to convince Nora to do that, Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne asked while Lincoln was giving the rings to his sisters. He gave Lucy a ring that was of a bat biting into the ruby like it was a bug, and the gothic girl loved it a lot. Lynn had gotten a ring depicting a cheetah on it, one longer ruby inside the body of the animal was making all the spots glow red.

"I was very assertive," Lincoln chuckled. He at last handed Lori's ring over to her, "Sorry, that was the best one they had."

Lori looked at the ring of a koala with the rubies in its eyes. Unfortunately, any ring that would look fitting for the oldest of the loud siblings would be from the topaz machinery lunatics, and he was not letting her go anywhere near that group for a job offer.

"Aw… its cute… thanks, Lincoln. I know it wasn't easy to talk to that woman. I heard her shouting from here," Lori was grateful for all the hard work it must have been to get her to agree to take them on board.

"It was nothing… me and Ronnie Anne need to get to our next job," Lincoln claimed. His girlfriend nodded, unable to imagine their boss's reaction to their unfortunately very late arrival.

"Hold up, Lincoln! I'm coming with ya!" Lynn insisted, trying to get up, but Jeffrey made her lay back in the medical bed, mainly because she still was in the middle of having her blood drawn, and he did not want to clean up more blood today.

"None of you are going anywhere. Sorry, its the rules. If you don't await your results and head out, you will not be eligible to receive pay from any work until you submit to being tested completely," the doctor informed them while putting a bandage on the sport loving girl's arm.

"Sorry, Linc," Lucy apologized.

"Oh, don't worry," her older brother gave her a small hug, "I'll meet up with you all later. Just take it easy,"

"Don't worry. The dummy will be fine with me. I'll make sure he doesn't lose too much stuffing," Ronnie Anne laughed, referring to her boyfriend's mafia tagline. The two left afterwards. Lori was wide eyed aside from the occasional twitch from her left eye, slightly disturbed at the image in her head again.

"Are you sure they're not doing it?!" Lynn loudly asked.

"Lucky…" a disappointed Lucy murmured.

"So what was the loud noise we heard from the office?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln while they walked outside, taking out her cellphone to call a taxi for them because the walk to their destination would take far too long.

"Oh, that? …I slammed Nora's face into her desk and threw her to the floor," Lincoln nervously confessed. His girlfriend put a hand on her head, laughing a little unable to believe what he just told her.

"Lincoln, if you're trying to impress me, it's working. Great job there, lame-o!" Ronnie Anne grinned, bumping fists with him. Her boyfriend had a confident toothy grin on his face. The taxi would be here in a few minutes.

"Well what can I say?" Lincoln flexed his tiny muscles. They were a centimeter bigger than before, but his girlfriend thought he could use a workout routine, "If she tries anything to mess with us, I'll make sure she doesn't."

"Says the moron who got himself into a million dollar debt… or should I say the dummy."

Nora's voice scared the young couple into each other's arms. Their boss looked down at them with her still busted up face, and a horrifying gaze. After the moment of terror, the two let go of each other, beyond holding their hands. Lincoln sighed, unhappy with his new official mafia tagline that the Mad Batter addressed him as.

"Wait… what do you mean a million dollars?" Lincoln questioned. His boss coughed and stretched.

"There's an interest rate for everything, Mister Loud, and considering all you've put me through and the forced secrecy, you gained quite a debt. Do you want to try and hit me again, Mister Loud?" Nora offered. Lincoln was too stunned to reply. He was in debt a million dollars when all he took was twenty-five hundred.

"David was right…" Lincoln's mind silently spoke to itself, "No one has a small debt in the mafia."

"I gladly will if it'll get you to shut up," Ronnie Anne stepped up while rolled up her sleeves.

"Wait, no! She's had enough of that," Lincoln grabbed her by her shoulder, stopping her from doing this. Their boss couldn't tolerate another hostile movement clearly. At least now they were not forced to wear a uniform. They then saw their taxi pull into the parking lot.

"We'll work that debt off, don't you worry. After that, you'll never have to worry about seeing me or my family again," Lincoln informed her, not dropping the slight defensive approach. His girlfriend was reluctant to agree to this.

"Your ride is here. And let me just request one thing from you both… please do not have close 'relations' within the main building," their boss stated. The two not even acknowledging her teasing, they went to their taxi, climbing into the back of it. After they told the driver where to take them, the vehicle pulled away from the parking lot and drove off down the road. Nora eventually became a dot in the distance behind them. Inevitably everything including the building was out of sight.

"Why does everyone think we're doing it?" Ronnie Anne asked, his girlfriend having heard Lynn shouting about it earlier when they left. The raven haired girl did not really have much anger over it, but rather found it funny to imagine how the whole misunderstanding occurred. Bobby would probably kill Lincoln if he heard about that, which was a scary thought considering how passively nice her older brother is.

"Maddison is why," Lincoln retorted. Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes, suppressing a giggle.

"I'm just glad you're no longer on that drug," the dark skinned girl said it was nice to see her boyfriend rested and back to normal, at least as normal as someone from the loud family could be.

"I'll say. Not being able to feel pain or sleep wasn't fun," Lincoln claimed. That was truly an agonizing day and a half. He felt her leaning into him. He exhaled, taking in the peaceful moment and wrapping an arm around her.

"Heh… maybe after today, we could do it?" Lincoln poorly joked and received an obviously anticipated punch to his stomach. He thought that he needed to stop ruining good moments like this.

"Why not?" Ronnie Anne replied.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… wait, what?" Lincoln looked to her with a raised eyebrow wondering if he had heard that comment of hers right, today had been weird enough so the young boy presumed he might be going insane again.

"I said, why not? If I have a chance of dying every day, might as well make the most if it by unwinding at least once," Ronnie Anne explained her logic. Lincoln's entire face was red, the Loud boy unsure whether or not she was playing with him. If she was, she certainly was good at it. He was oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend found it adorable how worked up he became at the mere mention of the act.

"Why does every passenger I pick up talk about what goes on in their bedrooms?" the taxi driver groaned out.

"Sorry!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne apologized simultaneously. The two encased themselves in silence from there on. As the trip continued, the young boy's mind went in fifty different places, while the young girl just took a small nap.

After an hour long drive, the taxi reached its destination. The two paid the driver and exited. They stood at the outside of a mechanics workshop beside a large scrap yard, most of the shutters closed beyond one.

"So this is our job for the day?" Lincoln rubbed his head, hoping they did not put them to the task of repairing cars blindly. That would not end well at all.

"Looks like it'll be simple at least," Ronnie Anne reassured. As the two made their way inside, they saw a car on the lift platform that was missing a few of its parts. Their eyes then averted to a very skinny woman in a black and red striped shirt in a pair of dirty jeans.

"Hey, excuse us, but we were told you needed some helpers?" Lincoln called out, hearing the loud thud of a startled person's head colliding with the hood of the car.

"Ow! Ugh... oh you're the help? I've been waiting for you a while. Didn't expect such pipsqueaks though," a gravelly voice greeted them. They saw a tool belt over her shoulder, her flaming pink hair being most noticeable, each slot in her tool belt held one tool of some kind, and a big rainbow colored star tattoo on her face with a lot of ruby animal rings on her fingers, demonstrating her personal cooperation with Nora's mafia.

"Sorry for being late. We got held up. I'm Lincoln Loud!" Lincoln introduced himself.

"Ronnie Anne Santiago," Ronnie added to their introductions. The mechanic chuckled, seeming happy to have them here. She tossed them both random tools. Lincoln caught a monkey wrench and Ronnie Anne wound up catching a power drill.

"I'm Estrella, and I'm the proud owner of this here Chop Shop!"


	28. 10 losses

"…and that's how I blew up my friends car. He understood though. After all, anyone would swerve to avoid a turtle right?" Estrella laughed. She was laid back and eating her lunch, while Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were busy taking apart the vehicle before them. This was a chop shop that Nora had semi-ownership of, where vehicles were stolen and brought here. Once they were stripped of anything valuable, the heap of the remains were shoved into the scrap yard to be crushed into a tiny cube by the compactor.

"Yeah, but most people wouldn't be driving two hundred miles per hour, either," Ronnie Anne retorted, the story sounding like an insane person who couldn't let their foot off the gas pedal. She and her boyfriend had barely even begun working here and they both looked greasy and filthy. Anytime they touched these cars, she swore they got some new stain on their clothing.

"And I think they wouldn't swerve into a gasoline truck either," Lincoln added while unhooking the battery from the terminal, pulling it out and taking it over to the nearby table, resting it with a groan escaping his lips.

"Yeah, I guess there is that," Estrella shrugged with no arguing. Though she looked weird, the young couple agreed that she was relatively calm and in mental control, which was a nice change to the many other crazy workers. Their temporary boss came over to inspect the parts removed so far to see which ones would be of the most value, and which would be trash to toss with the car.

"Oh, right! You two check the trunk, that's like a small surprise gift box. You'd be amazed with half the things I've found in a trunk," Estrella ordered them. Lincoln cast a nervous gaze to his girlfriend, but was aware they needed to check the trunk for any more valuables than there were outside.

"How do we open it?" Ronnie Anne asked. They had taken the battery out of the car already, so the button to unlock it that was stationed near the driver's seat was not going to work. Their bright pink haired boss threw them a crowbar that Lincoln caught.

"I swear she's going to knock me out," Lincoln exhaled. The rainbow star tattooed woman chucked every tool around carelessly like she couldn't walk five feet to hand it over, the white haired boy assuming that it was very entertaining to throw a lot of heavy blunt objects at people. However it sounded like a horrible game to him.

"Well, here we go," Lincoln jabbed the crowbar under the space of the trunk door, he and Ronnie Anne pushing down, putting their full weight into it. After the sound of metal bending for a few seconds, they both fell on top of one another when the trunk popped open from the crowbar, forcing it open.

"Oww…" Ronnie Anne groaned. She found Lincoln under her weight, getting off him and helping him back up.

"Sorry Ronnie, I was trying to make sure that we got it open," Lincoln apologized, not able to help but laugh a little at how dirty both of them were. He found it amusing at least. The two cast their gaze to the contents of the trunk.

"You know, when I was a little girl, dad and I liked to play a game. I forget what the name of it was, but he would stuff me in the trunk and then leave me there for a long time until he would let me back out. It was better if I was quieter," Estrella exclaimed. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked to each other, starting to have second thoughts on the whole mentally sane theory they originally had of their boss.

"Well there's nothing much but clothes in here," Lincoln stated. Someone had been using this car's trunk as a closet to stash their clothes, likely due to lack of space inside their own home's closets, that or they were living in their car which would be a horrible thing if they had taken what was a persons home basically.

"Oh look. There's a case in the back," Ronnie Anne realized, leaning into the far back of the trunk, finding a decently sized briefcase hidden under a few shirts.

"Probably more junk," Lincoln commented, doubting there would be much in there. When the case was opened, the first thing that greeted the two's eyes was a skeleton head, the couple freezing up instantly like they had been injected with paralytic.

"I know that face. That's the face of someone who found an ostrich in the trunk… or another skeleton that would be close, too," Estrella came over, pretty casual about the whole deal like dealing with dead bodies was a common thing in her job, especially when knowing Nora.

"I… think it's fake," Lincoln claimed upon poking the skull head. The material did not feel solid at all. The white haired boy rummaged around in the suitcase a bit more and pulled out the rest of the body of the creepy object, which were bones connected by wires.

"Oh good… it's just a fake skeleton. The stuff we would see in science class," Ronnie Anne was relieved. It seemed like they had gotten lucky. The skeleton was for either aesthetic purposes or to intimidate a school janitor, and either one worked well. The skeleton was very dusty and old, having most likely been forgotten about a long time ago.

"Great! That means I don't have to go digging any holes in the scrap yard. By the way, don't go digging around there or else you might get shoved into one yourself," Estrella winked. Lincoln just stared fearfully, holding the skeleton head in his hands after trying to brush some of the dust off, thinking that it would be worth at least a little cash, or at least a good prop to scare his sisters with, or give to Luan to use for pranks.

"So what do you want us to do with it?" Ronnie Anne asked. Their temporary boss shrugged while Lincoln closed the briefcase back.

"Guess you two can have it. Not gonna get much use here," Estrella let them have it. The white haired boy smiled and laughed a little while looking to his girlfriend, both of them having plans in mind on how to put it to use. The two rested the briefcase full of bones aside.

"I think we took everything worth our time from this car," their boss claimed while looking things over. They had taken the tires, the battery, the side mirrors, radio, and even the headlights, and several other parts from the hood of the car. Only the engine was left, and that would take way too much effort and time to remove.

"How'd we do?" Lincoln asked, wondering if they had done well with the stripping of parts from the vehicle. Their boss shrugged.

"I'm not going to lie, you did good… but really, the only way you could really do bad here is if you put parts IN the car instead of taking them out," Estrella said before beginning to walk out to the back area which lead to the scrap yard, Ronnie Anne trying to wipe her grease covered hands off on a nearby cloth. Her boyfriend saw no point in cleaning off since they were going to have to get dirty again anyway. That was only the first car after all, and it was barely an hour before noon.

"Does she seem familiar to you?" Ronnie Anne quirked. Her boyfriend wondered what she meant.

"No? What do you mean? Maybe I've seen her once, but y'know, there are a lot of people working with us," Lincoln answered. He had no recollection of meeting their temporary boss until now, and that flaming pink hair she had was something no one could easily forget.

"Dunno. Just feels like I've seen her before…" Ronnie Anne claimed. Their temporary boss looked to be twenty years old, and anytime she tried to recall where she might have seen her before, it felt like a very depressing topic.

"Well everyone who works for Nora is either crazy, a murderer, or desperate for quick cash," Lincoln exclaimed. Sadly he fell under the latter, but still stood by his decision to take the money. Still he was finding it harder to say how confident he was in the decision.

"Guess that's how the car gets moved," Lincoln chimed up seeing the back shutter to the scrap yard opening. Estrella stood beside a tow truck that had been backed up to the shutter, the bed of the tow truck already lowered. He had wondered how they would move something without any wheels. This did seem like the best solution.

"Here, get it loaded up," Estrella ordered while walking past them, Ronnie Anne stopping her.

"Hang on a second. Can I ask how old you are?" she requested, the bright pink haired woman quirking an eyebrow.

"I turned twenty a month ago… why? Do I look like an old woman going through a mid life crisis?" Estrella responded in a joking manner, having been referred to as just that a lot mainly due to her tattoo and hair color.

"S-sorry, sorry! She just thinks she's seen you somewhere before," Lincoln apologized on behalf of his girlfriend, aware of how tactless it was to just spring that kind of query on someone out of nowhere with no context. He just finished preparing the car to be lifted onto the tow truck bed. Their temporary boss brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"Yeah… probably everyone in town has heard about me at least once. If I remember right, a friend told me that once a year they would remind the country of my story and mom would go on the tele begging for help ever since I was five years old. It all stopped when I turned seventeen," Estrella explained while rummaging around in a desk, pulling out a bag of chips that she opened and began to eat a few of from. Lincoln had to confess that it seemed to shake a minor memory, but was on the same boat as his girlfriend. They both knew her well before now, someway somehow.

"Your mom was begging for help from the country since you were five?" Lincoln repeated, scratching his head.

"And stopped when you were seventeen?" Ronnie Anne muttered, feeling it on the tip of her tongue now.

"My full names Estrella Arco Iris, that help any?" Estrella stated with a mouth full of chips. Just what they wanted to hear.

"You're Estrella Arco? My parents talked about you a few times…" Lincoln stated. His girlfriend had mixed feelings on this.

"And here I thought zombies were a myth," Ronnie Anne said, watching their temporary boss toss the empty bag aside, reach into her pocket and pull out a folded piece of paper, handing it over to them. Lincoln unfolded it and saw a newspaper article with plenty of words on it, and a picture of a five year old lying in a hospital bed in intensive care with tons of machines and tubes hooked up to her.

"THE GIRL WHO DIED TEN TIMES"

"It is with heavy hearts and unsteady hands that we have to inform readers that the young girl, Estrella Arco Iris, has passed on after her 12 year long fight for survival, having been the unfortunate victim of street violence. She had been shot in the head by a .357 calibur bullet that had wound up lodged in her brain, doing a tremendous amount of damage. Doctors did their best for her, but she remained in coma and on multiple occasions over these years had been pronounced dead, only to be revived by some odd miracle each time. Sadly, her luck ran out when she flatlined at 3:28am on August 21st, 2010."

"Yeah… that's her alright," Ronnie Anne claimed, her memory being back and restored pretty well now. Their temporary boss took the article back and returning it to her pocket.

"So… how are you alive? It's amazing how well you recovered," Lincoln was surprised. For someone supposedly deceased, they were very full of life. The vehicle was slowly pulled up onto the tow truck bed by the winch. The young couple recalled it very well. Money was a must have for any hospital bill, and Estrella's mother always requested help with donations funds and pleading for any neurologist to give her a sign of hope for their only child, even after doctors told her a million times over that she was never going to recover, she just would refuse to give up.

"You two wouldn't believe me, but you can guess how I know Jonas… I mean Nora… she and Lazzerson were both unhappy, because it was their two groups that had been fighting at the time when I got shot. They gave my mother all the money needed for each bill, with none of the debt," Estrella continued. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne really could not see Nora giving money away for free no matter what circumstance. She was out to get something back in every loan, but this came off more as a personal responsibility. Lincoln was more confused at how their temporary boss somehow got Nora's name mixed up with someone named Jonas. This all took place in a time before the topaz machinery group had even existed.

"It was weird. One second I'm just going to my grandma's, then next thing I hear is a loud bang, and everything goes dark. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't myself anymore… I was a bigger woman whose life had passed by, and I was stuck in a morgue, barely able to move," Estrella continued. She moved some of that pink hair of hers aside, showing a huge scar on the side of her head that came from her surgery.

"Why didn't you go find anyone? Everyone thinks you're dead," Lincoln questioned, aware of how traumatic it must have been for her to lose ten years of her own life, but was wondering why she decided to go this route and keep it all secret.

"Because she became a completely different person," Ronnie Anne answered with a good guess.

"You are correct, my favorite grease monkey!" Estrella nodded and explained it all, "The only thing about that life that will be remembered is my name. So after my legs started working with me, I got out of that morgue, I went and tracked down Nora and Lazzerson to thank them. Because of me, the rules of turf war exist. No guns allowed or else you'll draw police attention. No hunting people down at their own homes. No abusing power of authority if you have it… and the number 1 rule, that no civilians are to be injured."

Estrella went to the front of the tow truck. The two watching her go there felt sad from hearing this story. It was an amazing one of a miracle survival, but not one with a happy ending.

"Well, enough story time, pipsqueaks. We got a lot more vehicles to butcher… like cattle," the pink haired girl claimed before getting in and driving off to take the car to the compactor within scrap yard. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stayed behind looking to each other.

"Come on," her boyfriend insisted they return to their work, "Let's get all the tools ready."


	29. Surprise Visit

**Authors Note: To celebrate the nearly 25k views, I decided to give you all a double upload today, I hope you enjoy it!**

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne had spent the next three hours working on several different cars. It was a lot faster for them to take apart something than to put it together, though they were learning a few things in terms of mechanical skill along the way. Ronnie Anne returned returning from the bathroom, finding her boyfriend who currently was hurling into a trash can.

"You alright?" Ronnie Anne came over and rubbed his back, wondering if he was sick. He had told her that he had recently gotten over some infection, after all.

"No, he just drank some gasoline when siphoning it. I know that feeling! Gasoline's really good for weight loss though," Estrella chimed up from under the current truck they were working on, lying flat on her back on a small board with wheels.

"Why doesn't this shop have some kind of pump to siphon gas out?" Lincoln gagged while wiping his mouth. Both he and his girlfriend were sweaty and filthy. Ronnie Anne had even accidentally broken the hair band that had been keeping her ponytail together, and her long black hair was free to flow anywhere it pleased. Lincoln's hair was covered in grease and sweat too. They both were in need of a good washing.

"It got stolen by my employees who quit on me last minute. That's why I got you two grease pipsqueaks here," their temporary boss came out from underneath the truck stretching.

"Why did all of them quit on you, anyway?" Lincoln questioned after his stomach had calmed down and his fits of nausea had passed. His girlfriend wondered if it had something to do with the flaming pink haired woman's past.

"Someone was apparently hiding drugs in some of the cars we pulled in, and we kept having to take them out before they got thrown in the compactor. They all quit after the threat to stop or else they would have to face the music, they quit so Nora wouldn't figure out who was doing it," Estrella explained. It was just someone trying to make some extra cash by slipping drugs secretly around the mafia without them knowing. It worked for a brief time, and everyone quitting was some sign that they all had been involved at some point at least, or were too afraid of being blamed as the one doing it.

"What jerks… anyway, this truck's done. Can me and Lame-o have a break? He's pretty easy to exhaust," Ronnie Anne claimed, Lincoln quirking an eyebrow.

"Wait a sec, I can keep working," the white haired boy tried to argue, his girlfriend having a small grin as she saw him try to put on the tough guy act. They heard their temporary boss laughing as she was opening the metal shutter to prepare for the tow truck to take away the now stripped vehicle to the scrap yard.

"Ah, young love… I had a boyfriend for a few months, and I never really felt actual love from it… but don't worry, I know how tiring it is locking lips and tongue wrestling, both in and out of bed." Estrella chuckled, Ronnie Anne rubbing her forehead with a massive headache coming on, and Lincoln blushing heavily from embarrassment.

"Alright, I need a break," the white haired boy wanted to rest now, tired of their relationship receiving more uncalled for jokes.

"Glad to hear it," Ronnie Anne smiled the two heading off to the nearby side door that lead to another room of the large chop shop. Lincoln noticed the entrance where normally customers would be expected to come in to do the usual. However, the room itself was now made more into a small home. A refrigerator was stationed nearby the wall alongside a table, and across from a mattress that was rested upon some wooden crates with only one pillow on it.

"Wow… talk about harsh living," Lincoln could only comment. The eeriest thing about this room was the seemingly barricaded door. Estrella seemingly had set up some wooden boards that could be slid in and out of place to make sure the doors stayed closed, if the two locks and chain were not enough to keep it shut.

"Think she'd mind?" Lincoln quirked, looking at a very old television that had antennas on it, one bent horribly with tinfoil wrapped around it. The TV itself was resting on the counter beside a dusty cash register.

"I doubt she'd care," Ronnie Anne stated while pulling out two glass bottles of soda from the refrigerator, her boyfriend turning on the television which was playing some old movie that was a couple decades old, thinking it was better than nothing. If Estrella did not like them taking any items, they would refund it. Lincoln could not deny that having a large income was kind of changing his mindset slightly. It made him a lot less timid with handling items. He wished he had this kind of money earlier, having recalled countless times where he had accidentally damaged one of his siblings' possessions, sometimes they would be upset or other times not care, it really was varying.

"How are you holding up?" Lincoln asked his girlfriend while the two sat at the table. He popped the cap off his soda and began drinking it. He felt a lot better with something to help cool him off finally in his system. The buck toothed boy was curious how his girlfriend was able to handle the stress of everything, if she was suffering from any of it.

"I'm fine, Linc. The only thing I really am worrying about is you. I'm a lot better now though," Ronnie Anne answered. Now that her boyfriend had finally went to his family for help, she felt a lot more at ease, even if it was only a few of the members of the family and none being the parents.

"Hey, c'mon. I'm not that insane… yet," Lincoln chuckled while placing one arm around her, pulling the dark skinned girl into a small hug.

"I dunno about that. We both look pretty crazy right now," Ronnie Anne jokingly retorted. If they were to walk around Royal Woods for any amount of time, she could guarantee that they would gain a lot of attention for doing it. Then again, anyone under legal working age being covered in grease after one of their longest, most energy taxing days of their lives, would receive similar notice.

"We weirdos do clean up nice, after all," Lincoln laughed, recalling how his girlfriend had told him those exact words, that got him a light tap to his forearm. However, their small break was interrupted by a loud, forceful slam of the metal shutter.

"What was that? …please tell me we're not being attacked again," Ronnie Anne groaned, Lincoln getting up. The couple quickly went back to the main room where they had been working for the last few hours, both quickly hiding behind the new car, which was a golden painted Ferrari, that was supposed to be the next one to be taken apart. Weird to them however, as it looked nearly brand new. It made them question who was stealing all highly valuable cars, with such ease.

"I said no! Those rings aren't stuck on you yet! I'm not letting cops near here! Come back tomorrow with those rings merged with your flesh, and then I'll let you in gladly… or if you want, I could get my favorite blowtorch," Estrella angrily threatened. Someone had upset her immensely and she was not messing around.

"Whoa, calm down! I promise we're the other helpers Nora sent! Our brother and his girlfriend should already be here," Lori's voice piped up. Lincoln felt a lot of tension fade in a second. Ronnie Anne was glad to know they weren't under attack as far as she was aware, unless there was an elaborate trap set up by a rival mafia.

"Lori! Lynn! Lucy! I was thinking you weren't ever going to show up," Lincoln happily greeted them, instantly wrapping his arms around Lori's waist. His three sisters had finally been given their clean bill of health and approval to start working. Ronnie Anne stepped out behind her boyfriend.

"Oh, so this is your family? Boy, you really need to tell me what they look like next time. I thought they were undercover cops," Estrella apologized, watching as Lincoln finished hugging Lucy and let her go.

"Wow, you two look like you got thrown into barrels of tar," Lynn commented. Ronnie Anne really had no care at this point, but explaining it to Bobby was going to be weird. Lori groaned after realizing her own clothes had now been stained with said grease. She rolled her eyes, doubting she would be able to do everything cleanly anyway. Lucy didn't care either since her new stains would not be noticeable on her pitch black dress, but was more interested in what was going on at this mechanics area than anything.

"What? You want a hug, too?" Lincoln grinned. Lynn took a few steps back when he approached.

"He-hey! No way, I'd rather get my stains from work and sports, not hugs!" Lynn nervously replied, taking steps away from their dirty brother. Their gothic sibling did her best to suppress a laugh.

"Come on… just one hug?" Lincoln persisted.

"No, get away, Lincoln. I swear I'll kick you!"

"Come on!" he teased. A small chase around the area began. Lori couldn't help but laugh, watching this and having begun recording with her cellphone.

"It's nice to have Lincoln back," Lucy said. Ronnie Anne nodded in agreement, just watching Lynn try and avoid Lincoln's grasp.

"About as quiet as a landmine in a music store… Come on, I'll fill you two in. I'm sure they'll catch up," Estrella insisted she get Lori and Lucy started on work right away as well. More hands meant a job done faster, which meant more profit. The three headed inside, Ronnie Anne following.

"No! Don't touch me!"

"Come on, Lynn! That's not even your favorite jersey!"

"No, that doesn't make it any better! Get away! No! No! Noooooooooo!"

"Guess he got her," Lucy smirked, Lori having to take a minute to regain her breath.

"Worth it," Lincoln laughed, having gladly taken the kick. He entered the chop shop with a now grease covered Lynn. He had given her a regular hug, but she had wrestled around with him slightly which only made the mess worse.

"You're evil," Lynn just wanted to get to work and move on from that moment. However, before they could take another step to work on taking apart the golden Ferrari, they heard the sound of tires screeching to a halt. A van had stopped outside the chop shop, all eyes falling onto the vehicle.

"Hey uh…we're in trouble," Lincoln spoke up. Ronnie Anne cracked her knuckles, ready for whatever came out. The doors on the van opened, and a group filed out, none of them looking happy. They looked to be from Lazzerson's group, all of them wearing flower rings with emeralds embedded in them. Lincoln's focus was on them, feeling the hatred manifest into raw energy. Lori and Lucy were slightly worried, Lynn and Ronnie Anne were ready to fight, but Estrella seemingly had vanished on the spot. The white haired boy ready for whatever happened, since he doubted this was a peaceful visit.

"I won't let them hurt any of you… I promise."


	30. Scrap Yard Scuffle

Four men who worked for Lazzerson's group had made an unexpected appearance to the Loud siblings. Lincoln found this very frustrating since he and his girlfriend were very tired, but the young boy had just wanted to enjoy the work with his family. It was their first job together after all, and now it was also going to be their first brawl together.

"What're you druggies doing here?" Ronnie Anne demanded. She wondered where Estrella had vanished to. Lincoln hoped their boss wasn't the type to vanish at the first sign of trouble. Lori was creeped out by each one of these thugs.

"You stole something very valuable from one of our suppliers. We get a lot if we get his car back for him, with all the bodies of the thieves in the trunk," one of them answered, some of his own teeth missing and some looked so skinny that they might be in dire need of a big meal.

"Are you sure we can't just give you the car back?" Lynn quirked. The Ferrari had not been taken apart by them and had not even been touched yet. The most that had been removed were the license plates from both the front and back.

"If we did, it'd show we're easy to take from," Lucy commented in a more harsh tone to her family. Showing dominance was a very important thing. If they gave in to even one demand without a fight, it would send a message to the other groups that they were pushovers. Even the gothic girl knew running would be less cowardly than standing idly by and letting them take what they wanted.

"And we can't run… great," Lori exhaled, annoyed. They were beside the Chop Shop, where they could risk trying to run past the four drug addicts, but they would only get hurt for their trouble, one of them inevitably would be grabbed to.

"Don't worry… we'll be fine… just stay calm," Lincoln reassured, still having physical and mental health. Ronnie Anne looked behind them as the men began to approach, pulling out pocket knives and switchblades. Lincoln looked to his girlfriend, both having the same idea in mind. The three sisters were inside of the Chop Shop. The young couple hopped back, then jumped up and grabbed the metal shutter, slamming it shut. The single Loud boy kept his foot on the shutter handle to keep it closed.

"Okay, we're in trouble. Do you two know how to fight?" Ronnie Anne asked Lori and Lucy, aware Lynn knew how to put up a fight.

"The dark overlords I worship will protect me," the black haired girl claimed, the others trying not to let the fear of that comment set into the atmosphere.

"I'm not helpless. Trust me, everyone at our home has to fight each other a lot," Lori answered. They all heard loud banging on the shutter, coming from the four men who were trying to lift it open now. Lincoln's weight pressed on the handle by his lone leg was not going to be enough.

"Quick! Into the scrap yard! Just get the surprise on them," Lincoln silently insisted. Lori, Lynn and Lucy nodded; if that was their best tactic they had in mind right now. As the three ran ahead off to the back, Ronnie Anne grabbed the keys of the Ferrari, not wanting it to get stolen while they prepared.

"Come on, Lincoln!" She called to her boyfriend, not wanting him to get caught. Lincoln shook his head, motioning her to keep moving.

"I'll be fine! Go!" he ordered. Ronnie Anne reluctantly left, heading into the scrap yard out back. Unfortunately, there was no way to escape the metal filled junkyard. The area had a fence surrounding it, full of barbed wire and going deep into the ground, preventing any easy escapes, not unless they had wire cutters. Lincoln groaned in effort, trying to come up with some plan to buy him time to escape quickly. One second off the shutter handle, and it was going to fly open.

"There's a barrel of oil there. Use it and run," a voice rang out in his head. The tone sounded so familiar, but Lincoln was under too much stress to put any thought into it.

"Well… that might work," the white haired boy saw a barrel full of the oil that they took out from each car they worked on, the black gunk being worthless due to how old it was, but it was good to be used as a slick trap. Lincoln leaping back, the shutter flying open as he ran for the back exit, knocking over the barrel as he fled, spilling the oil over nearly all the front of the Chop Shop.

"What the heck?!" they heard one guy scream as he tripped onto the floor, the other three following his slip up and trying to cross over the oil trap. Lincoln was long gone into the scrap yard now, where he found Ronnie Anne hidden behind a pile of cars that had been crushed into tight compact cubes. The white haired boy quickly went to his girlfriend, feeling a lot better knowing that everyone had gotten into a better position now and were away from that cramped Chop Shop.

"I left them on an oil slick, but they're going to be here soon. Any ideas?" Lincoln requested as the raven haired girl led him deeper into the scrap yard. The piles of junk almost made entire walls. Thankfully the sun was not going to set for another few hours, so they had enough light to advance through it without worry.

"You're supposed to be the planner here. What else can we do beyond beat them until their unconscious?" Ronnie Anne asked. It was more rhetorical than anything. They were left to this since Estrella vanished. Lincoln hoped his sisters had opted out of fighting entirely and had taken shelter somewhere within the area, or had even found a way over the fence somehow.

"You got me here…. Well, if they're still as strung out as they look, they'll probably split up to look for us," the white haired boy presumed. It was really a blind hope more than anything that Lazzerson's cronies would have whatever illegal substance in their veins, and hopefully messing with their brains.

"Hahah! Then we can track them down one by one and kill them slowly," that same voice in his head spoke up again. Lincoln looked around, and they saw the four men finally arriving to the junkyard.

"Where'd that punk go?!" one of the angry men spoke up, all four of them bruised from their constant falling.

"I finally found him," Lincoln and Ronnie Anne almost leapt in terror, but were able to keep calm. It was just Estrella who finally had reappeared after her vanishing act.

"There you are! Where've you been? They almost cut us up at the door," Lincoln asked in a quiet, angry tone. Ronnie Anne looked down, seeing their pink haired temporary boss holding some weird blowtorch that looked to have multiple cans of hairspray taped to it.

"A flamethrower… that's your favorite blowtorch?" Ronnie Anne rubbed her head, unable to believe what she was seeing. This weapon the boss wielded was most likely used only when people got problematic or out of hand.

"You can't use this on them!" Lincoln exclaimed. Estrella looked at him with a straight face.

"He's right. We can't just run around with a flamethrower, we might kill them," his girlfriend agreed. Those four attackers weren't backing down on committing murder, which the duo and his family refused to do.

"You two serious? Come on, do you know how many cars I had to crawl in to find it?" Estrella however noticed two of the men, who were ecstatic that they had found the three. The bright pink haired woman groaned, tossing the custom weapon aside.

"Go make sure the others are alright," Ronnie Anne ordered. Estrella nodded, heading the opposite direction from the brawl, leaving it in a two versus two. Lincoln was appreciative that his girlfriend was more concerned for his sisters, and or had confidence in him. The drug addicts had split up just as they predicted. The two knife wielding drug addicts began to run at them, the young couple preparing themselves.

"I'm gonna fill you full of so many holes, that the wind'll blow through ya!" One man swung the knife wildly. Lincoln ducked under the first few swings before the third cut his cheek. He took the chance to throw a right hook into the man's side, before kicking him in the stomach. The attacks seemed to hurt a lot. The man flipped the knife upside down and swung it overhead. Lincoln dodged it, letting the knife dig into the ground.

"Sorry about this," Lincoln stomped the hand of the drug addict, forcing him to let go of the knife. He then swung another right hook, hitting his enemy in the cheek and knocking out a few of his rotten teeth.

"If you insist on the beating," Ronnie Anne spoke while her attacker was hacking and slashing like his knife was a machete. The slashes were easy to avoid however that she had only a little bit of her hair cut off in the confusion. Ronnie Anne gave a straight jab to her attackers face sending some of the grease into his eyes, making him recoil in agony.

"Grah! Who fights so dirty?!" the man rubbed his burning eyes. Ronnie Anne jumped up and butted her head against his, which rattled their skull. The drug addict fell down onto the ground, unconscious. The young girl held her head in pain, having accidentally given herself a nasty gash from how hard she had done the finishing blow.

"You okay lame-o?" Ronnie Anne panted. Lincoln took the time to tie up the hands of his opponent with his belt, making sure he wouldn't move a muscle if he woke up.

"Yeah just feel like I need to wash my hands with scalding hot water after touching these guys," Lincoln laughed a little before seeing her injury. He felt horrible for her getting hurt at all, but glad his girlfriend was alright.

Lori and Lucy searched for anything in one part of the trash heap that they could use to fend for themselves, and the best they could find was a single pipe, until time ran out for them to prepare anything more.

"There you are. C'mon, if ya come quietly, I'll make it quick… and I'll only cut your right hand off your corpse," the drug addled lunatic spoke as he walked into the open area of the scrap yard, seeing Lori standing in the center holding the pipe tight.

"Wait. My right hand?" the blonde quirked.

"What? Lefties are boring!" the man laughed. Disgusted, the oldest loud girl smacked the pipe against some metal that made a loud clanging noise.

"Pfffft! Now what was that? I'm not some dumb animal who's gonna run just cause ya make a ruckus-!" the man was hit by a large tire that had rolled off one of the piles of junk and crushed him into the ground. Lucy stood at the top of the pile, giving a thumbs up to Lori.

"Ow… I think I swallowed a tooth…" the man saw the tall loud girl step beside him preparing the pipe like a golf club.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you swallow a lot more," Lori laughed. With one mighty swing, the man's skull rung out with a loud noise like a bell unable to ring. He was knocked onto his stomach where he lay there, his eyes closed and mouth agape.

"We really work well together," Lori stated, Lucy coming down from the metallic heap.

"Yup. That was a nice plan," Lucy complimented. Those drug addicts were not the smartest to begin with. Clearly one little glance at the man and they could see dozens of needle marks on his forearms and neck. To say their victory could only be rivaled to beating a turtle in a race was an understatement. The two went off to try and find the others, Lori not letting go of the pipe in case they ran into anyone else of Lazzerson's crew. This was great for her anger management.

"Come on out, little girl! Promise I won't hurt'cha," the man spoke up, having been after Lynn after he spotted her for half a second.

"Really? That's a shame, 'cause I'm going to hurt you a lot for threatening my family," Lynn stepped out from her hiding place, cracking her knuckles. The man barely listened not taking her seriously.

"You had the chance to run… now you're gonna get it," he approached her with his knife low, reading to start stabbing like a psycho in front of a shower curtain. Lynn grinned, ready for his move. The man swung the blade, only for his wrist to get caught. She kicked the switchblade out of his hands into the air and caught it.

"Ready to give up?" The auburn haired girl offered, having complete dominance of the situation in less than two minutes. The man muttering in anger and hatred as he went onto his knees with his hands behind his head. Lynn proudly stood there with her hands on her hips.

"Oh good, you caught one! I was coming to make sure you were alright," Estrella exclaimed glad to know her worker had survived the encounter even if it was just a small one from a bunch of junkies, after their one of many drug supplier's vehicles.

"The guy was weaker than Lincoln. Got anything to tie him up with?" Lynn asked. Their temporary boss nodded.

"Yeah. There's plenty of cables in the chop shop. Let's get them all wrangled up," Estrella nodded, glad they had seemingly seized the situation completely. The sports loving girl forced the drug addict up, forcing him to follow.

"Oh thank goodness… are you all alright?!" Lincoln said as he and Ronnie Anne had the two men knocked out, lying nearby in a small pile. He was relieved to see his sisters well and healthy. Lori and Lucy dragged the guy they had rendered unconscious behind them while Lynn had hers held at knife point, the sharp blade being more for an empty threat than anything. Ronnie Anne went with Estrella to fetch the cables when requested to help.

"Yeah, Lincoln. The guy didn't even get near us," Lori reassured they were okay, but just a bit drained on energy from the stress of the encounters.

"He was easy to beat…" Lucy added, sounding a bit disappointed.

"We're good. Once we get them all wrapped up, we can get back to work," Lynn stated. Lincoln sighed in relief as he hugged them all. That the three loud girls had never seen their brother so strangely worked up or worried before, appearing almost ready to have a heart attack out of such stress.

"Good work… I'm going to go call the police and Nora," Lincoln said, heading back inside. He needed to inform their boss of what happened and get the authorities here to take the drug addled men away immediately, he still needed a new cell phone to replace his broken one.

"I can see why Linc's stressed out now," Lynn commented.

"Well that's why we're here, Lynn… to help take that stress off," Lori responded, not wanting to confess that she enjoyed beating up another individual, unsure if it was the thrill or sense of victory that was the cause of it. Their goth sibling however had a worry in her own head, which when spoken, made her other sisters feel more unnerved.

"We're going to have to come up with good lies for mom and dad and the others, from now on."


	31. Completing work

The day seemed to resume the semi-normality it once held after the police had come and taken Lazzerson's four goons away with the guise of rogue drug addicts trying to steal the Ferrari. The authorities bought it easily and left. Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Lori, Lucy and Lynn all began their work, with Estrella ordering every last one of them around on what to do.

"Can you hand me the pliers?" Lincoln requested. He had gained a new bandage on his right cheek. He heard a loud crunching noise, looking over to see the table that they normally rested the car parts on, which had snapped from the weight of all they had stolen from the Ferrari. Every last part was of decent value, this being the first vehicle Lincoln and his girlfriend having worked on where they had to take out the engine, which they were still in the process of.

"I think we've got everything out but the engine," Lynn commented while carrying the last tire to be removed overhead. Everybody had given up on their cleanliness, half of them descended into making each other dirtier with some playing.

"Yeah, and we've barely done anything with it. Don't you got any bigger tools Estrella? I don't even know how we'll get it out," Ronnie Anne questioned. The Chop Shop had a surprisingly small array of tools, none of them too strong or useful, and the most advance being a power drill to quickly unscrew bolts off the tires. There was no way even to get it out, and if they weren't careful it would fall through entirely.

"Sorry, but my former employees took the bigger things, and I don't know where they went," Estrella apologized. She couldn't track everyone down. Lucy was just making sure nothing had been damaged from the collapse of the table they had been resting on.

"Nothing looks messed up, thankfully," Lucy said. Things looked fine to her. The tires underneath the table seemed to have helped soften the fall for the items. Lynn put the tire down beside the broken table

"How's it feel to be working with family?" Ronnie Anne asked her boyfriend, seeing that bright smile that had been plastered on his face since the fight had been won.

"Feels like the best thing out of everything that's happened lately. I feel so happy, I could kiss them all," Lincoln brightly answered. Working with his family more instead of random insane people was a lot less stressful, though he knew there would be plenty of crazies down the long road of debt.

"No thanks," Lori said, looking at her phone to see several text messages from Bobby that she had missed.

"I wouldn't mind…" Lucy quietly coughed to herself. Lynn couldn't say a word that could come to her head but had a light blush on her face.

"Ahh… youth… shame I missed mine," Estrella laughed. The sound of a phone ringing with a more serious ringtone made everyone stop what they were doing.

"Quiet work, everyone. It's mom," Lori ordered everyone to work quietly, somewhat thankful now that no one was using heavy power tools. Then again, all of them were working while Estrella just watched like it was a game to her to order people around.

"Hey mom, is everything alright?" Lori answered, trying to not let her tired tone stick out prominently and failing slightly.

"Hi, honey. Sorry to bother you. I know you said this would be a trip without technology, but I wanted to check up on you all and see how you're all doing?" Mrs. Loud explained. The siblings lied that they didn't want any technology on this camping trip and only use phones in an emergency situation. The blonde girl looked to the others. No one was extending any advice and insisted she wing it.

"Oh, we're just fine. Things have actually been pretty smooth. Lucy has been enjoying nature… Lincoln did great at pitching the tents, and Lynn caught a lot of fish with her bare hands," Lori went with the first set of lies in her head. They may not actually be camping, but she certainly felt more tired than a camping trip would make her. The sun had set on them an hour ago, making things considerably darker.

"What have you and Bobby been doing?" her mother teased, Lori rubbed her head.

"We've been… making something so animals can't get our food while we sleep," Lori lied, dragged further into the conversation. Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and his two other siblings continued to work more on the engine.

"Boy… it must be fun to know you have everything in life now…" That same voice chimed in his head. The white haired boy stared straight ahead, thinking he recognized that voice. It was very recent but he had no idea what it was.

"Uh… did anyone hear that?" Lincoln wondered. His girlfriend shook her head. The only sound they were hearing was Lori making up lie after lie to their mother.

"I think that's just Estrella eating," Lynn stated, looking over at their temporary boss eating a cake she had gotten from her refrigerator. The young boy shook his head, smarter than to mishear someone eating for a voice in his head that sounded like it was right beside his ear.

"Or the dark ones are extending their hands in offering to help you for exchange of your soul," Lucy said. If Lincoln hadn't seen half the things she had happen around her, he wouldn't believe in ghosts. Sadly the thing that convinced him to start believing in the paranormal was not a favored television show, but a plate being thrown at him in an empty room.

"Just calm down, we're with you so you can have less stress on you," Ronnie Anne reminded while planting a kiss on his cheek. Lincoln regained his smile, beginning to calm down from the small scare, thinking he might just be tired again. He was looking forward to a great night's rest tonight. The four just continued to work on the engine.

"Yes mom, don't worry, I made sure they put on mosquito repellent lotion," Lori yawned. Their mother was not letting up on any questions during the many. There was a loud sudden crash. When the older blonde turned around, the engine of the Ferrari had fell straight through the car and onto the ground, heavily damage.

"Lori?! What was that? Are you okay?" Mrs. Loud gasped after hearing the ruckus. It didn't sound like anything anyone would normally hear while out camping in the woods.

"Ye-yeah, mom, Bobby just dropped his flashlight on the van while trying to get on it to star gaze," Lori nervously replied, casting an irritated glance to everyone else, though it appeared Estrella was already ranting and cursing over how much money they just lost. It was their one and only big blunder for today.

"Oh, well… alright. Stay safe and call us first thing in the morning," Mrs. Loud said. After a brief goodbye, Lori was able to hang up.

"Looks like we're done with our job," Lincoln said, the only mistake they made and it was quite a huge one. He hoped it wouldn't upset Nora, and result in him losing a finger.

"Yeah… overall you did great, and saving my life is nice too… oh, right! I forgot… Nora called earlier. She wanted you to come see her for your reviews. I know normally she leaves a shady letter or the likes, but she said that she has something important to inform you all. I'll have filed my report by then," Estrella informed them. Lincoln grew nervous from hearing it.

"She didn't say anything more than that?" Ronnie Anne asked while holding her boyfriend's hand to give him comfort and reassurance. The three sisters were quite concerned from hearing this, too.

"Sorry," Estrella shrugged. There was nothing more she could do and their boss had told them nothing more.

"Well… we need somewhere to stay tonight," Lucy stated. They had told their family they wouldn't be back until sometime tomorrow, due to the camping trip lie.

"Well we need to go see Nora anyway… why don't we just sleep there tonight?" Lynn suggested. Lincoln was unsure about agreeing to this, but they all were too tired to head to any cheap motel or hotel, because the closest one he could remember was nearly two hours away.

"Alright… come on, let's go. It was nice working for you Estrella," Lincoln agreed, seeing how tired everyone was. They had to rest now so their family could see them in good physical health, in case they were forced to an early trip home.

"Come back anytime. And remember you two; protection is the number one priority," their bright pink haired temporary boss told them. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were embarrassed. No such thing as peace with their relationship anymore. They were surprised that it mainly was from people that weren't in their families.

"Alright, everyone in the van. Try not to make too big of a mess," Lori said wanting the grease stains to be minimal, doubting it would be easy to clean out.

"I get the best spot!" Lynn called before jumping into the van. Everyone agreed that any spot in the van was a great spot as long as they didn't have the entire Loud family there. Lucy climbed into the passenger seat.

"Ladies first," Lincoln told Ronnie Anne while holding the side door for her, only to receive a small punch to the arm.

"Yep, so get in," she told her boyfriend with a laugh. He rolled his eyes before climbing inside and getting into one of the far back seats, his girlfriend taking the seat beside him before closing the door.

"So this is what working for the mafia is like?" Lucy asked, while their oldest sibling started Vanzilla and began to drive away from the Chop Shop.

"Uhh… Yeah guess so, it isn't that horrible." Lincoln nodded, guessing every mafia operated differently. He agreed that it wasn't what he expected, but he was very thankful that it was just working various jobs. So far they had not really done anything illegal beyond working under the legal age requirement, and assaulting several other mafia members, but that could be passed off as self defense.

"Don't jinx it, please," Ronnie Anne requested. She knew the Louds could jinx things or sabotage it themselves. She rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder leaning on him and trying to enjoy the calm drive down the dark road.

"The Loud Mafia, sounds catchy," Lori laughed a little. A few of the others laughed as well from imagining the mafia tagline of theirs. Sadly, no one made their taglines for themselves. It seemed like whatever caught on in popularity in the group was what was picked. Even now, Lincoln still couldn't believe he was referred to as The Dummy.

"Hah! Yeah… I sure hope they have a way to clean up back at the main building," Lynn did not want to go to bed covered in black gunk and filthy clothes if she could help it. No one disagreed there. They all wondered what their next job would be, but they figured they could handle anything as long as the five of them worked together as a team. Lincoln smiled while putting an arm around Ronnie Anne.

"That million dollar debt will be gone before we know it."


	32. Insanity's Fear

Nine o'clock in the evening at the mafia main building, and Ronnie Anne was walking down the hall, drying her hair off with a towel and had gotten into a change of clean clothes. There was a shower and several other washing appliances available, presumably for hard to clean blood stains. She was glad about it, even if she hated the boring white t-shirt and black shorts. Normally she never cared about matching colors, but these two just counteracted each other so much that it bothered the dark haired girl.

"Is Lincoln back yet?" Ronnie Anne asked while entering one room in the hallway of the second floor, where she saw Lori and Lucy. There were a lot of rooms available, and they mainly served no purpose at the moment, so they were converted into small sleeping quarters for those in dire need of rest and not wanting to take up space in the medical bay.

"No, he still isn't back," Lori worriedly replied. Their brother had been in Nora's office in a meeting for two hours now and it was making them more concerned each passing minute. Lori was passing the time and calming her nerves by texting her boyfriend while lying in one of the only three beds available. The oldest loud sibling had one bed to herself, whilst Lucy was going to share one with Lynn. Ronnie Anne had begrudgingly agreed to share one with Lincoln, but she promised her boyfriend if he put one hand somewhere she didn't like, he would be in the floor in half a second.

"He'll be fine…" Lucy simply said. Their brother wasn't quick on his feet, but he tended to be okay with conversations, until he joined the mafia now, in which it seemed very hit or miss. Lucy was just glad they all could get cleaned up. Ronnie Anne went to her bed and sat down tiredly. Today had been so long and stressful, that she was looking forward to a good night rest. Lynn had presumably gone to try and find something for everyone to eat. They had all been starving after all they missed dinner.

"Looks like it's stuck to me," Ronnie Anne thought, looking at the ruby crab ring she had taken from her boyfriend by force. It was merged with her flesh now. Lori and Lucy had long since learnt about what would happen tomorrow. There was no turning back or leaving Nora's group once they merged. The black haired girl lay back on one of the two pillows on the bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in her mind.

"And you think they've all gotten into trouble?" Lincoln stood in Nora's office, having let time fly unknowingly. They stood in front of a bulletin board with photos of men and women in police uniforms, which had red strings connecting them to certain parts on a map of Royal Woods. The pushpins that held the photographs up had animal rings dangling off them.

"Mister Loud, I don't think they're in danger. Not yet anyway… but I believe that someone is trying to send us a message…" Nora repeated herself while taking him back to her desk. They both took their seats, both being confused immensely.

"It all sounds pretty impossible but… can we please get back to why I came here? You said you needed to see me, and I'm sure you got people with a lot more than two rings to discuss the missing co-workers with," Lincoln had not realized he had been in here for over two hours, and none of this was related to him his girlfriend and sisters.

"I do… but they're all out on work," Nora replied. The problem at the moment was anyone in their mafia that was a police officer or of any position in authority or law enforcement had gone missing, and their rings were always sent back, but they had nothing in them. Neither blood nor flesh. Somebody had found a way to take the rings off without the need for amputation, which made the leader of the ruby animal ring group more concerned.

"It's okay, Nora… Sorry I messed up with the Ferrari," Lincoln apologized, remembering the destroyed engine that cost perhaps thousands. Even though they still made a good profit, it was a mistake that could not be brushed aside or looked over.

"Yes, well from what Estrella told me, you had four of Lazzerson's men arrested and your family put up quite the fight. And once again without a single death. It is very impressive, Mister Loud," Nora claimed. The arrests more than made up for it. Lincoln stared down at the black widow ruby ring and the ruby bee ring on his two hands, terrified of losing his fingers.

"Mister Loud, to be clear, I frown on those who make mistakes, but no one is perfect. Only those who make grand mistakes like travesties are the ones who get punished," Nora explained. Her face had been stitched up slightly after the violent exchange the two had earlier today.

"Oh, th-that's great! Is that all you wanted to tell me, boss?" Lincoln happily replied. He believed now he was just pulled in here to talk about missing police officers from their mob or be told he had to do horrible at a job to get punished with an amputation.

"No, and frankly it's my fault for delaying this conversation. I needed someone to bounce ideas off of. This talk is about your lover and your family members," his boss started. Lincoln was just surprised that the older boss of his had not taken a single chug out of a whiskey bottle since he had arrived. He normally would been seeing her taking a few swigs every couple minutes, but this time his boss appeared sober, and looked a lot more miserable than ever.

"My girlfriend and sisters? What about them?" Lincoln quirked, unable to read neither the atmosphere of the situation nor his boss's mind, which was beginning to get quite annoying. He never was good at mind games.

"Nothing… I'm just… surprised at how easily they've adapted. Your girlfriend joined the other day, and then your sisters did this morning, I thought they all were going to be worthless. You've all slipped into your assigned tasks and done magnificent so far, you all are so natural, it's like you've all been here for years. It's odd… and frankly, Mister Loud, I am unsure how I should feel about it," Nora exclaimed. It was slightly unsettling to her how easily Lincoln his sisters and girlfriend had fit into the mafia without much issues. After that was said, she pulled out an envelope.

"Oh… is that my pay?" Lincoln reached for the envelope, but she smacked his hand, making him retract in pain.

"Allow me to finish first! Now then, Mister Loud, as you're aware, every leader needs smaller leaders to take care of groups within our family. Therefore, I want you to be the leader of your sisters and girlfriend," Nora claimed, and then she handed the envelope to him.

"Lead them? What do you mean? I mean I appreciate that you see me as a leader, but I'm just a lucky idiot…" Lincoln replied, not having that much confidence in his leadership skills. He suddenly got a hard slap across his face.

"Ow!" the white haired boy cried in pain, holding his sore cheek, unsure what he had done to earn that treatment.

"What do you do to someone with self esteem issues? You do nothing! They either rise or fall on their own. The same can be said for leaders. Some are born as natural leaders. Others can rise to the occasion when pressure mounts, and the rest... The rest simply crumple and follow the leaders," Nora then tapped that envelope in his hands, "Inside this envelope is 2,000 dollars and two rings. Five hundred of that money is yours. And for the rest and the rings, you are left to the task of distributing them to who you think are worthy in your group."

Lincoln realized that she was trying to cause issues amongst his family and girlfriend by forcing him to decide who got the rings and how much each one got paid. He knew 1,500 dollars was not going to evenly split amongst four people, and whoever was awarded rings would look like they had done better than the others. The white haired boy wondered why she was trying to purposely upset what she told him were good workers.

"Thanks Nora… I'm gonna go get some rest," Lincoln stood up. He was going to do the best to his ability to make sure everyone got an equal amount of pay. His math may be average to none, but he could handle money. The young boy was about to leave before he stopped himself, having recalled how Estrella had mixed up the two names, "And Nora… Who's Jonas?"

"That would be me," Nora simply said while beginning to rummage around her desk.

"Oh… so it's your middle or last name?" Lincoln questioned, presuming her full name might just be Nora Jonas. He couldn't deny his curiosity ever since his temporary boss had stumbled on the name mix up.

"No… that was my first name before I became my true gender," Nora responded before pulling out a photograph that she had finally found, Lincoln coming over and taking it looking to see a long black haired man in the photo, giving two thumbs up while lying in a hospital bed. The single loud boy was wide eyed, quickly connecting the dots on this one.

"Oh uh… I mean… so… you're…?" Lincoln couldn't force the words out of his mouth. He got his sore cheek pinched. It hurt somewhat, but he would take it over a hard smack.

"Yes, Mister Loud, I'm transgender… and yes, I'm happy with my life choices. Anything else to ask?" Nora confessed without skipping a beat, with no hesitation to confessing to being a man formerly named Jonas before the operation. He never felt like he was in the right body and it had burdened him for so long. After the surgery, when Nora came to exist, things were so much better. Clearly those good times had long since passed.

"Just bail from this conversation. I don't want to hear details about how their corndog got turned inside out," that same voice rung out in Lincoln's head, except when he blinked, he swore he saw another individual in the room briefly that was gone too fast for him to get a good look at.

"…no thanks, just thanks for clarifying for me," the white haired boy told Nora and left the room, taking his 500 dollars out of the envelope and putting it to his wallet before putting the envelope of money with two rings within it into his pocket.

"So are you sick of me yet?" He heard. Lincoln stood beside the safety railing that stretched everywhere on the second floor. He turned around, his eyes focused on that familiar voice that had been in his head over and over again.

"What the… am I that sleepy?" Lincoln asked himself, rubbing his head. There stood the very being he saw from his nightmare. The same, white long haired girl stepped beside him.

"Are you sleepy? Did you black out from the slap? Or are you just high because of all the car fumes you've inhaled?" His female doppelganger laughed. Lincoln rubbed his head. He had to test something. He tried to touch his imaginary clone, and his hand went right through her.

"Y'know, what's the point in having a girlfriend if you're literally groping thin air, you pervert?"

Lincoln was unsure whether she had just insulted him, or if he had insulted himself. The young boy was so confused, no matter what perspective he viewed this from.

"Can you tell me what you are or what you're doing here? Do you even have a name?" Lincoln decided to talk to himself. He hoped this was not a female doppelganger that had somehow escaped from that bad dream, and was not practically haunting him.

"I told you, what I am is what you think I am… though after that talk with Jonas in there, I bet you're thinking I'm what you want to become. As for why I'm here? The Luha Sa Dios you swallowed the other day," the white haired imaginary girl replied, referring to the imported drug Lincoln had been forced to digest.

"The energy pop? Dang, I thought I was clean by now…" Lincoln muttered, guessing that it wasn't so simple to remove a drug from his entire system. Maybe in another day or two, he would be cured of his ever growing insanity. He didn't even acknowledge the transgender comment.

"You are. I may be in your brain, but even I don't know why I'm around… If you figure it out, I'll make sure to tell ya," she giggled. Lincoln, one who remained terrible at mind games, wondered if he was literally losing it now, but did not press much thought into it.

"Well if you're going to be around, I'm going to need to give you a name… I guess I'll call you Lincada," Lincoln dubbed his female counterpart. Lincada had an unamused expression on her face, while the two began to walk heading down the hall for the stairs.

"Really? Lincada? That's the best you got? Gosh, we are such idiots," Lincada hated the name and was not shy to tell him that, he wondered if he was insulting himself now or if it was another part of his brain doing it. Lincoln knew it was not in his control though, that much was obvious.

"Well you're going to be gone in a few days anyway… I'd like to make the least of it… Even if it's just the excuse of being lazy," Lincoln shrugged. He then stopped halfway on the steps, his doppelganger being at the top of the flight of stairs,

"How deep are you in my mind anyway?"

"Pret-tay deep… I even remember things a lot better than you do. Do you remember what you did a week after Lily was born?" Lincada asked. Lincoln barely blinked and his female counterpart had suddenly appeared at the bottom of the steps. He presumed it to be normal, not paying it much more mind than he already was, the ever growing headache was not helping.

"Uhh… I did a lot before and after Lily was born. I helped set up the crib, helped clean up more while mom was recovering and dad was at work. I also helped soundproof Luna's room so she could play without worrying about waking her up," Lincoln went on with the small growing list. He had no idea what specifically he had done a week after his sibling was born.

"Boy, we really are stupid. Remember? Lana and Lola were worried that Lily and Lisa would make them not get as much attention anymore. So what did we do?" Lincada tried to refresh his memory better. It was the time when Lisa was showing her very high intelligence, and it made the twins worry that their parents were going to not have enough love to go around and only praise for the child with the high IQ and the other that had only just been birthed into the world.

"…heh… I took them to the circus. That's right, it was in town that night and I talked Lori into taking us. Can't believe I forgot that. I mean, even the elephant wouldn't wake up," Lincoln chuckled lightly to himself, the fond memories flooding back quite fast from that night recalling a half botched show from the ringmaster. His female self gave him an arrogant smirk.

"Alright, alright… It is pretty awesome that I got a ticket to my own mind," Lincoln gave Lincada some credit. He wondered if that was him giving himself credit. Then again, he was easily confused, beginning to slowly accept all this.

"Yeah, well before you start asking me a million things, our sister's behind you with a familiar face," Lincada claimed. Lincoln turned around and he saw Lynn at a small table with some food for a small late dinner. She had also found more for the rest of them. Maddison was sitting right across from her. The auburn haired girl did not look happy either to be meeting a formerly famous sports star.

"You better hurry before she offers Lynn any candy. Wouldn't want that sports nut running with unlimited energy. She'd run us into the ground," Lincada advised, Lincoln just ignoring her mockery and teasing comments while making a quick walk to his older sister and co-worker.

"Lynn! Hey… So uh you've met Maddison?" Lincoln came up to the two.

"Yeah. She spotted me from a mile away and knew who I was instantly! She's one of your sisters?" Maddison greeted.

"I literally just told you my name a minute ago," Lynn said. Lincoln felt the tense atmosphere kick in. One person radiating with an intense aura of dislike and another with calm relaxed vibes.

"So… what's going on?" he asked. Lincada took a seat on the table right between his sister and the Mad Batter, neither seeing her while she boredly swung her legs off the table.

"I knew it was her, Lincoln. I told you a while back about the baseball star who killed her husband and manager and vanished! She's right with us!" Lynn explained, her younger brother having a nervous look on his face with a cold sweat breaking out.

"Wow… you must be an amazing poker player with faces like that," Lincada laughed.

"I-I know, Lynn… I found out the other night," Lincoln confessed. His sports loving sister said nothing, guessing that much when he looked uncomfortable.

"I don't see why you're so upset with me. I've never even met you before. It's nice and all that you like sports, but I don't exactly give autographs anymore," Maddison claimed while sucking on her usual energy lollipop. Lincoln was glad that the Mad Batter was calmer than normal at least, presuming it was because of the late hour.

"I'm not upset… I just want to know why you did it. I loved watching you on television. You always terrified the pitchers by sending the ball flying past their heads," Lynn claimed. Lincoln saw no sign of Lincada now. He hated being so distracted by an imaginary being, but he felt like something bad would happen if he didn't keep her in his vision. The young boy could only hope she had just vanished forever this time.

"You need to know why I did that? Well… the pitcher would never try to catch a ball so close to his head after all," Maddison shrugged.

"No, I meant… Why murder and throw it all away? You could've done a lot of things other than that," the auburn haired girl requested. Lincoln only just noticing that Lynn had her hair let down, having freed it from its ponytail when she had went to wash the grease out of it. She had not bothered to fix it back up yet, she actually looked a lot more beautiful with her hair in that style, to him at least.

"Why murder? Hahahahah!" Maddison began to laugh hysterically.

"She's a bit crazy," Lincoln quietly informed his sister.

"I noticed…" Lynn rubbed her head, hoping for an answer. Lynn had been involved in nearly every sport available, and losing Maddison, a person she somewhat idolized as a baseball player, was a bit damaging toward her feelings of baseball.

"Why murder? I didn't do anything more than get out from my problem. My husband was sleeping with my manager and my life had ran into a boring rut. Everything was being handed to me. It was really fun too," the Mad Batter retorted while reaching into her bag full of baseball bats pulling out a cracked wooden one and resting it on the table between them, it had a lot of clearly visible blood stains on it that looked very old.

"Boy, I wonder who's going to attack first," Lincada piped up. Lincoln saw his doppelganger riding on his back. He couldn't shake her off either. He groaned in irritation, but just tolerating it. She had no weight to her anyway.

"Life gets boring when everything is handed to you. And if you can get revenge when restarting, then why not? Now look at me! My life's a million times better," Maddison replied.

"But your family… and your kids… you don't care what happens to them?" Lynn stuttered. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Oh, I care alright… Once I find them, I'm going to do to them what I did to their dad," Maddison said with a disturbing bright hum. The two siblings found her words more morbid than ever. For her to help create life but then want to take it away without a second thought, all because of her deceased husband it seemed. Lincoln knew the Mad Batter better than that. She may be crazy, but she had some very thin logic behind most of her reasoning.

"What the… I just…" Lynn couldn't find any words. She would get the cops right now if Maddison wasn't protected by the very mafia they worked for, that and it would most likely get them all in deep trouble with Nora.

"I gotta agree with Lynn. This is a bit too far, even for you, Maddison. I know they've probably grown up by now, but why kill them?" Lincoln requested an answer. The red haired woman spun the bat on the table, having long since grown bored by the interrogation.

"A mother's gotta do what's best for her kids. And the best thing for mine right now, is to bash their skulls into the ground until they stop breathing. You two'll understand one day. … take care, I gotta get to work," Maddison bid them farewell as she took her bat and walked away, leaving the sports loving girl sitting there with her brother.

"I can't believe it… what kind of person would use all they practiced from sports to blindly murder everyone around them?!" Lynn dug her nails into the table, feeling Lincoln's hand on her back. He wanted to give her reassurance, but was aware of the new terror in his sister's head, the fear of becoming just like Maddison one day and losing her mind, he had no idea what to tell her though.

"August 19th, September 2nd and February 4th, last year," Lincada yawned. Lincoln cast a raised eyebrow to her before she began to whisper something into his ear that gave him a good idea and reminded him of what happened on those exact dates.

"Lynn, we clearly don't know everything, but you're nothing like Maddison. You're good at every sport you find! Remember your last football game for the school? You broke your helmet in half nearly tackling through all those bigger players to get the last touchdown," Lincoln reminded her from what he could recollect, "And remember the kindergartners you helped teach soccer? You didn't even have to do that, but you did anyway, because they didn't know what to do with that soccer ball they had found, and you wanted to show them a good fun time."

"Lincoln…" Lynn began to form a smile.

"And what about baseball? You made sure everyone was in the right position and nearly every call you made was perfect. You were always teaching people ways to improve and inspiring them to try harder and improve, and at any point you could have stopped, a lot of people would have quit or not wasted their time, especially after multiple concussions and broken limbs… most normal people anyway… but we're Louds. We really aren't that normal, and your passion for what you do is what makes you yourself."

"Lincoln… You're the best, little bro…" Lynn pulled him into a hug. Lincoln smiled while returning the embrace, glad to know he was able to alleviate her fears and brighten her mood.

"Come on. I'll help you carry the food," Lincoln said while gathering it up. The two grabbed the food for everyone before beginning to leave, ready to get back to their family so they could eat and get some rest. Lincada had vanished once again, leaving their real self to inform everyone that he was their leader now, but he would worry about that later.

"I hope I can be a better brother than a leader…"


	33. The Calm Night

Lincoln and Lynn arrived back to their room. His small motivation talk had helped his sister out a lot, and she seemed back to her normal self. The young boy mentally pondered everything that had occurred recently for the last few hours.

"Lincoln! There you are!" Lori exhaled in relief, seeing her little brother without any new injuries and bringing him into a hug. She was a bit embarrassed with how terrified she was at the mere thought of him being out of their sight, but she guessed it was just her nerves being an issue.

"So what'd Nora want?" Lucy asked as she got her food from Lynn. Ronnie Anne was curious about that as well, but was glad to see her boyfriend with all his fingers, noticing the envelope in his hands that he was occasionally looking at with a worried appearance on his face.

"Was it about the Ferrari?" His girlfriend wondered.

"Kind of… how can I put this?" Lincoln rubbed his head. He had already gotten his money out of the envelope and was trying to decide how to divide it up amongst the four of them. He decided it was better to blurt it out than to fumble his words.

"Just say it, bro," Lynn insisted. The lone loud boy sighed.

"Fine… I'm now the boss of us…" Lincoln put it as simply as he could, trying not to sound mean over it all. He wanted to be the best boss he could be, but he was afraid his family and girlfriend will dislike him over it. Not like he enjoyed his new position, but he had been forced into it.

"You're the what?" Ronnie Anne laughed. That didn't sound remotely right coming from her boyfriend. She never saw him in a position of leadership in any type of group, mainly because he was not the leader type. Everyone else looked skeptical about it too.

"I'm not joking. I decide who gets rings, how much money everyone gets and what to do if a decision has to be made. I don't want to be the boss either, but Nora has forced me to," Lincoln sternly retorted before rubbing his head tiredly, feeling a migraine beginning to set into him, quite hard to shake off.

"Well… alright. It's not like you'll ignore everything we say," Lori did not mind this. As far as the blonde girl was concerned, it was just a new title for Lincoln which she could tell he didn't enjoy, but he couldn't go freely passing it off to anyone else. It was his burden to bear.

"Here… sorry," Lincoln apologized while going to each one of them and giving them divisions of 375 dollars, no more no less. Their reactions resembled his from when he got his first paycheck. The money was easy to separate this time, thankfully. That was the last 1500 of it gone, leaving nothing left. Lincoln smiled, feeling accomplished since he certainly was not going to let anyone argue about that measly amount of money. His math skills had not messed up for once. Everyone got a fair equal share. All he had to do was to divide by four.

"Wow… That is a lot of money," Lucy was thankful for it. The income would help a lot with her dark rituals. Some of them she had no chance of doing since the supplies were so expensive. Lincoln however was now stuck with two ruby animal rings in the palm of his hand, one being of a dog holding the ruby in its mouth like a rubber ball, and the other being of a frog with ruby eyes.

"Four people, two rings. Hope you're better at decision making than I am," Lincada chimed up out of nowhere. Lincoln looked to where the voice came from, seeing her upper body poking out from under the bed with her arms behind her head.

"I have two rings to give out. Simply put, more rings awarded to you will have you gain more respect from members of our group…" Lincoln went over and handed Lori the ruby dog ring, and Lynn the ruby frog ring.

"Thanks Linc," Lori put the ring on. It was very cute to her, she was liking the rings she had been given thus far.

"Thanks, bro… for more than just the ring," Lynn fist bumped him before putting it on as well. Lincoln looked over to his girlfriend and Lucy, wondering if they were alright with his decision. They picked up on his thoughts pretty fast.

"I don't care about the ring. I'm here to help you, remember?" Ronnie Anne reminded him. Her boyfriend looked nervous but gained a small smile.

"I'm satisfied with my necklace," Lucy said as she put her hand to the spooky skeleton necklace around her neck, she cherished this gift from her brother a lot. Lincada lay on the bed behind Ronnie Anne, playing with her own long white hair.

"Thanks guys… Come on, let's enjoy the night," Lincoln told them. They wanted to eat and go to bed to get some rest. He felt a lot more at peace from knowing everyone was somewhat comfortable with him as their boss, but he was going to do his best to suppress and forget Lincada if he could, but that was going to be a difficult task, the way she haunted him like an imaginary long lost twin sister.

It was now midnight, and nearly every light in the building was off. Lincoln was unable to sleep. He was tired and not having any more problems aside from the pain in his body that tended to fade in and out randomly. Sometimes it hurt as much as a needle prick, and other times it felt like he had been through a human sized grinder.

"I thought she told me to keep my hands to myself…" Lincoln lay in the bed beside Ronnie Anne who had fallen asleep a while ago. The white haired boy could see her arms keeping him close in a cuddle that he presumed she did naturally when she slept.

"Ohhhh… I know what we're thinking… well go ahead. She's touching you. That means you can touch her all you want," Lincada chimed up from the back of his head again. Lincoln did not see his female imaginary counterpart anywhere, but was not going to reply to it. All of his sisters and his girlfriend were asleep, but he was having several of his own embarrassing thoughts.

"Well… I did say I was going to take more risks after all," Lincoln recalled his vow all too well. He and Ronnie Anne had become a lot closer over these last few days. It was weird but the young boy was happy about it, despite the circumstances.

"Careful…" Lincoln slowly placed an arm under Ronnie Anne's head while putting his other arm on her side after a little movement from the sleeping black haired girl, the white haired boy was relieved that she had not awoken and hit him yet. Lincoln pulled his girlfriend into him, feeling her warm body against his sent a new feeling throughout him, like a radiating peace calming his heart down.

"Goodnight, Ronnie Anne… I love you," Lincoln slowly closed his eyes, planning on enjoying the night slumber while they could. It only took minutes before he began to fade in and out of consciousness, his eyes fluttering. After a few moments, Lincoln fell asleep, entwined with his girlfriend.

Hours passed as the peaceful night went on. The stars and the bright moon dangling in the sky like beautiful decorations. Wolves, crickets or more would make a noise to pierce the silence, but never anything too distracting. Lincoln's eyes blinked open, and he realized he was alone in his bed, flat on his back, the blankets barely covering his lower body.

"Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln chirped. His girlfriend was nowhere to be seen in the bed. He hopped out of bed, trying to remain calm. He hoped this was just another bad dream. He hated to imagine that Ronnie Anne might be in danger, or even worse. He was going to go check on her, at least with a small lap around the building. He could not go back to sleep until he could confirm she was safe, the young boy wished he could relax more but this entire building felt unsafe to him.

"We're not the best at romance, are we," Lincada said while fading in like a ghost, following Lincoln through the dark halls. The young boy shook his head.

"I don't think it was over me touching her. She said I'd be on the floor with a black eye if I did anything she didn't like," Lincoln was too confused to care anymore if he replied to her or himself, especially at this late hour of night. It wouldn't be long until the sun began to rise and illuminate everything in its reach.

"Can you keep an eye out for her, please? I'd like to know there's someone else helping to look," Lincoln requested, his female doppelganger giggling at the request.

"You know I'm in your head, right? I can't see anymore than you, but you're starting to believe I'm real… maybe if I get lucky, you'll lose your mind and I'll step into place," Lincada teased him. The white haired boy felt his eyes glaze over slightly, trying not to give her much of his mind. He could tell she was enjoying the attention she received, seeing him aggravated made her happier it seemed.

"Look, you're able to see around me too. You saw Lynn behind me a few hours ago when I couldn't, so don't start lying about all you can do," Lincoln retorted. His imaginary twin looked disappointed with a pouty face.

"Aw… you actually paid attention to that? Guess you caught me," Lincada agreed to help look for Ronnie Anne. The main mafia headquarters felt so much creepier at night. Everyone was resting or out on their jobs, or had gone home to their families. The place felt like a haunted house. Lincoln wouldn't be surprised if it was true, considering how many people could have died on the premises.

"So… do you want to stay around? Like is there any reason you won't go away?" Lincoln tried to strike up conversation, forgetting that he was talking to himself. The long white haired girl put a hand on his head.

"You want me here, right? Otherwise I'd be gone. That's how it works, right? Or is it the drugs? No, I don't know why I'm here, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts," Lincada implored her unwillingness to leave of her own accord. Lincoln felt a cold terror around him, swearing that he could feel her hand on his skull. He instantly forced her to let go this time. His hand didn't go through her however, he had actually been able to grab Lincada's arm and make her stop touching him.

"Wha…? What's happening?!" Lincoln stalled in fear, he was wondering if instead of an imaginary hallucination from ever growing insanity, he was being haunted by a ghost. He didn't like either answer, but he gladly preferred the former.

"You're starting to believe I'm real too. Your body is the thing reacting to me and responding like I'm real. I think it's sweet you're growing to accept my existence," Lincada laughed. Lincoln was not sure what to do, but he was not going to freak out. The boy swallowed his terror, ready to continue searching for Ronnie Anne when he heard the sound of jazz music playing from down the hallway.

"Jazz music… Let's check it out," Lincoln went to see what was going on, thinking that perhaps Ronnie Anne had found a room to listen to music, if not maybe someone in there had seen her. Lincada followed along with a skip in her step, as if to keep making motions to terrify him, but her real self focused on primarily finding his girlfriend.

"Please let things go back to semi-weird…"


	34. Promises

**Authors Note: I wanted to thank you all, since we are nearing 30k views. I still cannot believe how well this fic does daily, I hope you enjoy this longer than normal chapter. And CommandBlock 2 I hope you get to feeling better soon, take care!**

The doorway the relaxed jazz music was coming from led to a staircase that would take him downstairs to the cellar. Lincoln was slowly taking each step down, the wooden floorboards creaking underneath him, outdated and in desperate need of replacement.

"Why's the music sound so weird… it's nice, but it sounds like it's coming through a busted speaker," Lincoln spoke, wishing he could only think without Lincada bothering him. His clone was riding on his back once again, the white haired boy trying to ignore the terrifying fact that it actually felt like there was a real weight on his back now, even if it wasn't much.

"Probably one of those cruddy USB phone speakers," Lincada suggested, that did make sense to Lincoln those tiny portable speakers that were meant to be able to be easy to carry so you could play music aloud if you ever wanted to, they were very bad in quality. Lori had been through three of them because she wanted to enjoy romantic music with Bobby during some dates, but their bad quality made the music sound like it had no passion in it. The jazz music playing through the cellar sounded fine though, only issue was like it was playing through an old speaker.

"Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln spoke as he reached the end of the cellar where the music had been coming from. There he saw his girlfriend carrying a small tray full of the bright red gemstones. Lincoln wondered what she was doing with all those rubies and where she got them.

"Hey, Lincoln… are you okay?" Ronnie Anne asked. Her boyfriend saw no sign of his female clone again. She vanished again when he had not been paying attention like always. Lincoln noticed the jazz music coming from an old record player nearby on a table.

"I'm fine, Ronnie Anne. I was scared that something had happened to you," Lincoln confessed with a smile of relief. They heard the sound of shoes clacking against the concrete floor. At the direction he heard them, Lincoln saw an elderly man with white hair on the back of his head and on his upper lip, he had a handlebar mustache. The older man wore a plaid yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a brown vest on top of that.

"Well hello there little guy… Santiago, is this the boyfriend you told me about?" the old man asked while shaking Lincolns hand. The young boy was happy with the calm atmosphere of the late night hour. The jazz music was becoming better now that he was in a close proximity to the record player. When the two shook hands, Lincoln saw not one ruby ring anywhere on the old man's hands. He was devoid of any rings to wear, but he had all of his fingers, too.

"Yeah! This is Lincoln Loud, the dummy," Ronnie Anne referred to him by his mafia tagline. He didn't pay that comment any attention, having grown to accept the tagline.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Lincoln greeted him, the old man chuckling a little before coughing slightly.

"So this little guy is the one gaining so much attention lately? I'm Nirmata," Nirmata introduced himself before taking the tray of rubies from the dark haired girl and heading over to a nearby workbench. Lincoln found rubies on a lot of these shelves, and glass display cases filled with rows upon rows of animal style rings underneath those shelves, that either had their ruby put into them or were still awaiting to receive their jewel.

"Sorry if I upset you by breaking the no touching rule…" Lincoln apologized. Ronnie Anne rubbed her arm a little with a sheepish smile.

"Actually, I was really happy when I woke up like that…" she claimed. Both of them had small blushes now. His girlfriend tried to change the topic to what lead her to be in the cellar with this elder.

"I ran into Nirmata when I was leaving the bathroom. He needed help making rings so I agreed to help him out… I guess I lost track of time," Ronnie Anne explained. Cutting out rubies to the exact right size that each ring needed was a very hard process, and she felt horrible to see an old man with brittle hands breaking his fingers over it. This was the man who had made their rings, the ones that everyone in Nora's mafia wore that were bonded with their flesh, with the weird material of the resizing bands.

"Don't worry. We don't have a job assignment yet for tomorrow. I think we'll be able to go for some extra nap time together," Lincoln joked before being hit in the arm playfully. The buck toothed boy did want to go back to bed, relieved that his girlfriend was alright and unharmed, but he had a few things on his mind which he hoped the old ring craftsman could answer.

"Uh, Nirmata… Well for starters, how long have you been working here?" Lincoln decided to break the ice with a simple talk about their jobs. The old man looked to him calmly.

"Well last time I checked… I think it's been fifty-three years," Nirmata responded. The old man carefully put a small ruby into a ring that resembled a fox, the rubies being placed into the eyes, making the ring look like it had a spark of life now to it.

"Fifty-three years? Jeez… We're really new, um, how old are you?" Lincoln asked. Ronnie Anne was curious now as well. The old man coughed, having that same smile on his face.

"Seventy as of January," Nirmata claimed. They both were shocked from hearing his age. The elder should be in retirement, enjoying his golden years. Not in a cellar crafting rings and fitting rubies into them for the mafia.

"You've been here since you were seventeen? Wow… you were here even before Nora-eer… Jonas. Suppose that means you joined before they came into control," Lincoln was flabbergasted. He himself did not have any plans to spend his whole life in the mafia.

"Yes, I was, and this place was a lot nicer before these times. You see, ever since I was a little one, I've had a bit of a natural talent, you could say, for detail… these rings are my creation. One day, I tried to get a job at a several jewelry stores, but they all turned me out due to my education. It was when I was about to give up, that I met Poima… Nora's mother," Nirtama explained who the previous leader was while informing them of his detailed past, and that Poima was the leader before Nora.

"What happened to her?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"When Poima was around, we weren't really a mafia… we were more of a charity. Not a very legal one, but we were more in the bracket of helping those find work getting off the streets and into a home" Nirtama claimed, remembering the fond memories of his long life, "I think the biggest thing Poima had done before she died was turn an entire large apartment complex into a homeless shelter. Meanwhile, I gave every homeless person we helped a ruby animal ring… as for what happened to her… she had appendicitis that sadly ended her life."

"You can die of appendicitis?" Lincoln was surprised. Appendicitis was rarely lethal. It was cured by minor surgery to remove the appendix. The white haired boy only knew about it because his dad had to get his taken out about four years ago.

"Yep… if you don't detect it fast enough. Poima was too dedicated to helping others, so she never found the time or even arranged a time to visit a doctor. She just popped more pills and continued to work. One day, I was bringing her the new set of rings I had made… and I found her slumped over her desk, no longer moving or breathing," Nirtama finished. It was just an unfortunate case of those who wanted to do good, not knowing when to take it easy. Poima in that matter always put others before herself, from beginning to end.

"And then Nora became owner, and things went to the mafia lifestyle?" Ronnie Anne guessed the ending of this story. The elder nodded while placing the new animal rings that had gotten their rubies implanted into them into one of the display cases.

"Jonas tried to step into his mother's shoes, but he couldn't compare. His dad died due to a construction accident well before Poima passed… eventually we started doing things even more illegal to help others out… before we knew it, Lazzerson appeared and wanted most of our turf for himself so he could produce more marijuana. Thus the rivalry began. I wish I could tell you more… I really do… but that's really all this old timer knows, other than Jayzo…" Nirtama looked depressed, recalling very last detail of how things slowly changed for the worst. The elder took the needle off the record player, stopping the jazz music.

"I'm sorry things got so bad," Lincoln apologized, feeling horrible for it all. He understood more now why Nora was an alcoholic. Having to remember that every day must be quite a burden. Ronnie Anne felt just like her boyfriend, unconsciously holding his hand for comfort, her boyfriend having informed her and his sisters of Nora's life as Jonas before her surgery. Nirtama looked over the young couple.

"I feel more sad seeing people like you all beaten and torn up… it's the look of an honest man trying his hardest, and close ones supporting that man getting hurt as well… I hope our next boss can make things normal again, but that would take so much work that I doubt it would happen… and even if it did, I most likely would be dead by then," he confessed while looking down at all the various rings in the display shelf. By then, Lincoln had a sudden idea, one that his girlfriend could not decipher just by his face.

"Ohh… are we actually thinking what I think we're thinking?" Lincada chimed, appearing out of nowhere once again, now lying on the workbench playing with her own hair.

"Nirtama, I'll make sure things go back to normal one day. I don't know how long I'll be working here, but I know it's going to be a long time. I'm gonna do my best to take down Lazzerson and Jayzo, and once they're out of the picture, we can spread back into charity work. No more mob work, even if I have to become the leader of this mafia to make it happen," Lincoln extended an offer of help to hopefully change the future with his tons of work to try and pay off his debt.

"Lincoln, are you crazy?!" Ronnie Anne was terrified at what she was hearing.

"Ro-Ronnie, please hear me out…" the white haired boy requested, his girlfriend crossing her arms as she nodded with an impatient look on her face. Lincoln motioned her to step beside him to the display case, both of them viewing inside while the elder seated aside. Not even he could see Lincoln's imaginary clone though.

"Ronnie, a lot of people who work for Nora are in debt to her… But there are plenty of random people out there who are homeless or have been saved from a life on the streets thanks to this business… And now that things have gone bad, it's been harmful for Royal Woods. Everyone fighting behind the scenes for power, has done nothing but hurt the city and anyone given a ring others don't like, is now on kill lists. If we can find a way to deal with Lazzerson and Jayzo, whether it be with arresting them or making peace with the other mafia leaders, then maybe we'll make a lot of lives better," Lincoln explained his reasoning for this train of thought. He hated to imagine how many had died in these turf wars, and how many more would be next. The ones who were suffering the worst were the ones not even involved in any of the mafias, in a sense the entire city suffered to a degree.

"Now that's what I like to hear! We can just murder our way to the top and knick some rings til we have more than Nora!" Lincada declared. Lincoln cast an angry glare to her to silence her. Ronnie Anne was confused by Lincoln's change of gaze. The boy realized this, fixing his attention back on her.

"Lincoln, you got into this mess because you wanted to make your sisters happy. Everyone is working really hard here to help you, and now you wanna go deeper in? What is wrong with you?! I understand you want to help people, and you said that his place makes you feel like you found a purpose in life and has made you set for the future… but you could die here! There's only so far we're willing to go to help, we aren't going to go killing ourselves by directly going after the other mafia leaders! That isn't our business. That's left to the people with more rings than us," Ronnie Anne angrily told him off, right in his face. Lincoln saw not only anger in her eyes, but the sadness and fear that she tried ever so hard to hide under that mask. He hated that look so much that it always struck his heart.

"Think you're gonna have to be a bit more aggressive. So tell her what we're thinking or start making out with her. Do something to shut her up," Lincada ordered while poking her head out from the glass display case. The teenager blushed at the thought of the second option, but knew that would only get him a knuckle sandwich for being so sudden about matters.

"I'm… I'm sorry Ronnie Anne… I know how stupid and dangerous it is, and I love you all, and I'll do anything for you now that you're helping me out… but if I can make a lot of lives better, even if it costs me my own… then, well… that'd be a sacrifice that would be more than a fair trade," Lincoln disliked to speak his mind so freely, but it was how he felt if he was stuck in debt to Nora for an unknown period of time. He was going to at least try and make a change to make sure less people suffered in the future.

"How would it be fair?! You have more than just me and those three sisters of yours! There's even the rest of your sisters, your pets, your parents… you even have Clyde who's just as worried sick about you… and what about, maybe, just maybe, Christina? How is it fair to any of us if we lose you? It wouldn't be, and those people who you help? They wouldn't care because they wouldn't know a single thing that you did for them!" Ronnie Anne's anger grew. Nirtama was staying out of this, but to try and more subtly calm things down, he let the jazz music resume. If it did nothing for them, it would at least make things quieter for him so he could focus more on work.

"Wow, she even used Christina on ya. She really means it," Lincada commented. Lincoln sighed in his growing depression. Christina was another girl he had once liked. He had tried dating her when he and Ronnie Anne had a minor falling out. However, it went nowhere, and Christina was disgusted with him obsessing over her, so he remained very awkward friends with her. Lincoln knew his girlfriend hated Christina at that, and would never mention her otherwise.

"Ronnie Anne, what will it take to convince you to have some faith in me? I really need your help on this. I can't do it without you, any of you. I'm losing my mind enough just by being here," Lincoln claimed while they headed to another part of the cellar, not wanting to get in the way of the elder's work by causing drama. Lincoln assumed that Ronnie Anne's deep worry was because he refused to kill anyone. None of them were going to if they could help it. But convincing the enemy mafia leaders was not going to give many other options to choose from, it was unfortunately a kill or be killed scenario.

"Aw, come on. Tell'er abut me, please? I'll let you touch me all you want if ya do," Lincada begged from atop of a nearby storage shelf, not getting a response from the boy she was basically haunting.

"Say what I have to do to get you to trust me, and I'll do it," Lincoln requested. Ronnie Annie pondered this. She had no idea if she could really trust him herself. The young girl felt his arms wrap around her, trying to give her a reassuring hug. Lincoln could be a bit more relaxed knowing that violence was not anything new in their relationship, so a volatile argument was nothing major.

"Promise me a few things then…" Ronnie Anne glared to him as their embrace ended. "First off… promise me that you'll do all this smartly and not leave any of us out of the loop."

"There's no other way but the smart way, Ronnie," Lincoln agreed to that easily. However, the list of promises continued, and the two probably spent the next forty minutes down in the cellar talking.

"…and that's it. Promise me you can do all that?" Ronnie Anne asked if he was up to swearing on that. Lincoln stared wide eyed at her. Even Lincada was in a position of shock and awe while standing beside him.

"D-Did she say twenty?! I-I think I heard twenty. No yeah no yeah no I'm pretty sure I heard twenty! Think you might need to look into a vasectomy, or cutting both of them off," Lincada told her male half. Just imagining having to do all that was a nightmare. Lincoln did not even hear his doppelganger from how shocked he was. The list was so long, yet it sounded like things that could be fulfilled.

"Ye… yeah, Ronnie Anne. I promise to do all that, especially the last one if you really want it… if you want to talk about our future together, next time, just say so," Lincoln held his head, agreeing and promising to it all during his momentary daze from his mind being very overwhelmed. He felt Ronnie Anne wrap her arms around him and pull him into a deep passionate kiss. Lincoln felt horrible for stressing her out like this, but he wanted to lie as little as possible to those involved with the mafia.

"What the-?!" Ronnie Anne said, they were interrupted hearing the sound of an alarm blaring. All of a sudden they saw Nirtama making his way for the stairs, he didn't seem to be in a big hurry though.

"What's going on?!" Lincoln asked, he and his girlfriend trying to hurry out of the cellar, the two helping the old man up the stairs so he could go faster. The young couple were somewhat irritated that their romantic moment had been interrupted.

"I wouldn't know. That's the emergency alarm. Only Nora can turn that on, and when it is on, we're required to gather at the main entrance," the ring crafting man explained. That was enough to let Lincoln and Ronnie Anne know that unfortunately they were not going to get back to sleep, because it sounded like a very big emergency if it called for the alarm to be pulled.

"I sure hope it's a madman with a gun. Think I'd rather die than raise twenty little devils," Lincada muttered. Lincoln was getting aggravated with his imaginary clone now, she was not speaking his mind at all, she was independent clearly. He wanted to forget that one promise of them all, but doubted he would. The white haired boy and his girlfriend just wanted to meet up with his sisters at the moment.

"Are we being invaded…?"


	35. Forced Vacation

Everyone in the building woke to the alarm at 5:09am. Lincoln was hurrying along with Ronnie Anne and Nirtama to get to the main area like the alarm supposedly ordered them to. It did not take them long to arrive to the main entrance where a large crowd had formed. Nora sat on crate, taking head counts to make sure she had everyone accounted for.

"Lincoln!" He heard three voices before multiple arms wrapped around him, crushing him at once. It did nothing to help his still healing injuries but he tolerated the pain.

"Where have you two been? We looked for you before we came here and couldn't find you," Lori questioned. The old ring crafter coughed, greeting the three Loud sisters as he stood behind the young couple.

"They were just helping an old man with a hard task. Sorry to worry any of you," Nirtama apologized. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne smiled, glad that the elder was there to calm the situation down slightly. The room was full of chatter, people trying to figure out what was going on. Nora remained silent as the members of the ruby animal mafia gathered.

"And this isn't even everyone… wow," Lynn was awestruck, seeing all the mafia cohorts they had around them. More were coming and it was more amazing to know that another huge number were out their working away right as they spoke.

"It's scary how Nora can memorize everyone…" Lincoln realized their boss had some perfect memory, which made little sense, especially considering her alcoholism, but the young boy had stopped questioning insanity like this a long time ago.

"Thank goodness. I was getting a headache," Ronnie Anne sighed in relief as the alarm finally stopped. Everyone from the building was evidently gathered up.

"Is that an air horn?" Lucy chirped before the sound of a loud blaring noise broke their ear drums. The loud horn had stopped any noise that had been around otherwise and regained everyone's attention. Nora tossed the air horn aside, glad to have everyone gathered up at a reasonable timing, almost like it was a drill to judge how fast someone could be to escape from a dangerous situation, which was a bit nonsensical in the main mafia headquarters.

"Thank you all for coming. I hate to disturb every one of you at this hour, but I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you're all getting time off work for an unknown amount of time, and I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. You must vacate the premises and head anywhere but here. I do not care what you do with your time, but don't spend it here until otherwise," Nora explained the good news and that everyone was being forced to take some micro-vacation. Lincoln could tell his sisters and girlfriend wanted to be very happy about this.

"The reason behind this, however… is because as we speak, there are about ten bombs scattered throughout this building, and we have requested special bomb squads to handle this," Nora sighed in her speech, "Until this situation is dealt with, you all must leave, and I will inform you all of when things can return to normal."

"Did she say…" Lynn gasped, "…b-bombs?!"

"Yeaaaaah… Let's cut this camping trip short," Lincoln suggested they all go home and enjoy time with their family again. Ronnie Anne nodded in agreement, though if they went home too early, they would be questioned over it. Lincoln gave himself second thoughts when he was aware of the disadvantages.

"Y'know, for a leader, you sure aren't close to being one. Just evacuate the building, you moron!" Lincada exclaimed to Lincoln, finding it stupid to stay at their work this long if bombs were in the building. The white haired girl seated on his shoulders.

"Alright, everyone in the van," Lori ordered as they stepped outside, or more so got shoved out by the giant tidal wave of people evacuating in a mixed pace. Even the security guards were clearing out. Ronnie Anne wound up punching a few people away from them, because they kept crashing into her, angering her each impact.

"So what are we going to do now?" Ronnie Anne questioned while she got into the back of the van with Lincoln and Lynn, Lucy getting the passenger seat this time.

"It's six a.m. and we would get questions if we came back that soon… I got an idea," Lincoln stated, Lori looking to the young couple in the back.

"What's your idea boss?" the older blonde girl laughed a little at referring to him as boss. Lincoln crossed his arms and leaned back.

"Please don't call me boss. Let's go get some breakfast and we'll go catch up on sleep at the nearest motel," Lincoln suggested, but mainly because they could not go home so early. He knew Ronnie Anne had mixed feelings of her own from their talk in the cellar, and he had to wonder if Bobby was going to catch on since his girlfriend and little sister were both now seemingly becoming immensely busy for summer vacation.

"Sounds good to me! We do have the money," Lori agreed. Lucy seemed happy with the idea of getting more rest and the mini vacation their boss gave them. The gothic looked into the rear-view mirror, staring at Lincoln and Ronnie Anne as the two held hands and talked back and forth with Lynn. Lori though was too focused on the road to add to the conversation. Lucy tried her best to relax, but that unfortunately was difficult.

Early morning had arrived. Everyone in the Loud House was awake now and enjoying breakfast. The Loud parents always considered this to be the calm before the storm in their day. They had grown ever so used to the daily loudness kicking in. In fact, when things were quiet was when things were most concerning. The parents were about to head out to work. The day seemed normal so far despite being without a few of their children. Just then, the door bell rang.

"Oh! I'll get it!" Luna hopped out of her chair and went out of the kitchen, going to the front door and opening it. A dark skinned boy with black, tufted hair stood, with a green plaid jacket on top of a white shirt and blue jeans.

"Bobby? What are you doing here?" Luna asked, surprised by his presence. The family was informed that Lori was supposed to be camping with him. They weren't expected to be back until later today.

"Hey, Luna. Sorry to bother you all this early," Bobby Santiago apologized, presenting a small white circular earring, "I found Lori's earring that she lost last time she was at my place. I wanted to drop it off and say hi to her before I went to work. I know she's been sick lately."

Bobby had been lied to by his girlfriend, while she told her family that she was going camping with Lincoln, Lucy and Lynn. What she had told her boyfriend instead was that she was home sick and asked him to stay away so he too wasn't infected, but despite that, Bobby decided to take the risk of catching a small cold to see his girlfriend.

"Who is it, Luna? Oh, hi Bobby!" Leni chimed with a bright hum, seeing him. All of the Louds liked him. Their father even described Bobby as an honest, trustworthy boy when giving approval to date Lori. The Santiago boy could sense the confusion with the two sisters, and wondered what was going on.

"Lori isn't here, Bobby," Luna finally replied. Now both she and Bobby were confused. Leni wondered what was going on before it struck her.

"What do you mean? She was on a camping trip with him. She should be back with everyone too right?" Leni chimed up. Her low IQ was on point today. The three looked between one another.

"I dunno what you're talking about, Leni. No one told me about a camping trip. Lori told me to stay away because she was sick. I was going to spend some time with my sister, but she went to stay at a friend's house," Bobby claimed while handing the earring over to Luna. The older boy looked understandably upset and thinking the worst, which that maybe his girlfriend either had another man in her life which she had not told him of yet, or that Lori wanted to break up with him.

"Bobby, come in. We alllll need to talk here," Luna let the slightly older boy step into the Loud House. Leni could tell this was going to be yet another rough and confusing day. It was almost as if everyone was doing something secretive and shady, and while everyone was entitled to their privacy, Leni felt like it was not secrets being withheld, but lies being fabricated out of their own choice. It all felt like it was to cover something up.

"Thanks, you two," Bobby thanked them for helping him try to figure this out, fully aware of how weird Lincoln had been lately and his injuries he had received from supposedly fighting with random others. It would be horrible if Lori were to begin acting just as weird as her brother. The rock girl patted his back.

"Don't get worked up over what could be nothing. Come on and join us for breakfast and talk with us," Luna insisted he join them to help try and find some sort of logic to his ever growing worry, Leni extending her reassurance as well.

"Everything'll be fine… I hope."


	36. One Truth To Hide Another Truth

Lincoln had insisted they take Ronnie Anne home first. It was agreed with easily, and after a goodbye kiss, the white haired boy let his girlfriend go back to her home. The four loud siblings were on their way back home themselves. As the van drove on, the radio read 1:08pm.

"Least we can relax and we won't have to worry about being attacked," Lynn said. Lincoln kept his attention on the view outside the window. His body could not even believe the rest it was going to receive since he had been stressing it beyond belief lately.

"Yeah… Never knew there would be rules to street violence, but I guess no one could really live with themselves if they killed innocent bystanders," Lincoln responded. Thanks to one of the turf war rules where the mafias could not attack their enemies at their homes, they all could take things quite easy since they did not have to be paranoid about random strangers breaking in and trying to murder them all. The Loud siblings felt great knowing guns were not allowed either. None of them could shoot anything to save their own lives, and Lynn only had skill in archery.

"Just because there are rules doesn't mean people will follow them. Kind of like incest," Lincada chimed up. Lincoln's head snapped around to see his female imaginary clone sitting between him and Lynn. Lynn was confused why her brother suddenly was giving her a stern look out of nowhere, like she had made a terrible remark.

"We'll be home soon… and first thing I want you all to do when we get home is get some better clothes. We all look like we borrowed from the lost and found," Lori exclaimed. Lucy could only agree as she missed her usual black attire. The only clothes they could change into so they could get out of the grease covered ones were spare outfits that co-workers had been more than willing to donate to them, but none of it really matched.

"Sorry that we broke your phone, Lincoln," Lucy apologized, aware that he had no longer any means to contact his girlfriend since his phone busted due to the three siblings accidentally breaking it. The raven haired girl looked to the back seat to see Lincoln, whose focus stayed on Lynn at the moment.

"Hey, I know it's fun to look in a mirror, but hey, moron? People are talking to you," Lincada grabbed his head and forcibly turned it to face his gothic sister. Lincoln realized what just happened, trying not to show the sudden terror.

"Huh? Oh ri-right my phone… Well, I needed to upgrade anyway," Lincoln brushed it off, apologizing for the momentary daze there. Their oldest blonde sister was concerned just like the other two, but stress was quite damaging to everyone. But as they arrived back to their home in Vanzilla, they saw the all too familiar vehicle parked along the sidewalk.

"Isn't that Bobby's car?" Lincoln quirked. Lori felt her heart skip several beats. The four of them had no idea what to do. They expected to walk into their home to an upset family with questions, but the older blonde girl was more terrified for her relationship than anything else. No one was able to speak, the four Loud children all unsure what to do. Bobby was here, so their fabricated story for camping was gone.

"How is it we always manage to dig ourselves deeper into a hole each day?" Lincada wondered aloud, still no one able to hear this glorified phantom but Lincoln.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know…" Lincoln was desperately trying to think of something. He had no cover ups. They had no injuries on them at least, the three sisters unharmed beyond a few scrapes on their hands from the Chop Shop work, and their lone brother lacking any new injuries. But Lincoln still could not think of a method to get out of this. They remained in the van, all of them in the same mental position.

"Y'know, I remember what we wanted to do once, when we were seven years old. Remember Lincoln? It was after you broke Leni's favorite sunglasses," Lincada tried to refresh his memory. Lincoln stared at the floorboard, his eyes widening at the idea his female doppelganger was saying.

"No way, I'm not running away!" Lincoln shot that idea down. He remembered having accidentally broken Leni's favorite sunglasses once when he had fallen while pretending to be a famous actor from the time. Yet she did not care about the item being destroyed. Leni taught Lincoln if she let every little thing get her down, then she would not be who she was. Lincoln had felt horrible nonetheless and considered running away from home, but he had chickened out due to his past fear of the dark.

"Running away? No one mentioned running away…" Lucy informed her older brother, Lincoln realizing he had spoken that out loud instead of thought it out quietly between him and his imaginary doppelganger. He still could not tell if she was evil or not.

"None of us are going to run away from this. The mafia might hunt us down and make beef out of us," Lynn reminded her brother, aware that no one simply fled from the mafia or their problems for that matter. Sadly both would catch up to them eventually unless they were buried underground or sent to the bottom of the ocean in concrete shoes, or given a very long bath in acid.

"Well, at least we're all on the same page," Lori nervously laughed, trying to find some bright side to this, but she was about to have a heart attack. She was trying her best to gather herself with everyone else. Lincoln exhaled once they had calmed down. He rubbed his head, opening the van door and hopping out. He closed the door, but saw Lincada go right through it with that same devious smirk, satisfied with her male half's mental snap.

"C'mon guys. Lets handle this the same way I've handled a lot of things lately… blindly and hoping for the best and going with the first thing our guts can come up with," Lincoln insisted. His three sisters looked to one another, wishing they could have the time to fabricate a better lie to bring out of their mouths, but they were in such a tense position that they had really no options. Their lone brother was ready to swallow his pride and fear, and if this was what it came down to, Lincoln would tell his family about the new life style they had gotten involved in because of him.

"I got a feeling this is going to make a lot of hearts cry," Lucy expected their family to be upset, angry or worse, but they knew it was going to not go well. Lori suddenly felt a light bulb in her head brightly illuminate with an idea from hearing all this.

"That gives me an idea, and I hate to do it, but I don't want the rest of our family involved with the mafia. Lincoln, it's up to me and you to save ourselves," Lori exclaimed. Her siblings seem greatly relieved, but Lincoln did notice Lincada peeking in through the window to the living room.

"Hey, there's an intervention-thingamajigger set up here. It's weird, really… mommy and daddy not saying anything, everyone else rambling about how to handle things…" Lincada said what was going on inside. Lincoln may not be at the window himself, but he could see it too. His female counterpart did have some nice perks. It was almost like psychic vision in a sense on top of the being able to access his memories like they happened yesterday. The four staying outside to discuss their plan.

The Loud house was packed with worry and confusion inside. When Bobby appeared and accidentally destroyed the camping and sick lie that Lori told them separately, it had blown up in the family's faces quite heavily. The older blonde never anticipated anything like this. All the talk in the living room ended fast when the door opened. Then walked in Lincoln, Lori, Lynn and Lucy, all eyes on the four of them.

"H-hi there Bobby booboo bear," Lori nervously greeted her boyfriend by his nickname. Bobby really did not know what to say in reply, his mind shaken up.

"Soo… family meeting?" Lynn chirped, Lucy remaining quiet. Lincoln was trying to ignore his imaginary female clone poking him to remind him that he could feel her, which she knew always freaked him out.

"You four, sit down," their mother ordered. Their children obeyed as they took their seats.

"Wish I had just spent more time with Ronnie Anne now," Lincoln thought, trying to ignore his body's agonizing throbs of pain.

"Where have you all been?" Mr. Loud demanded the truth.

"Not… camping?" Lucy responded. Going into this half blind felt very stupid now, despite the plan they had in mind. Lucy and Lynn were the people to help set it up in the conversation. It fell down to Lincoln and Lori to pull it off in the end.

"We've been downtown," Lynn claimed, not entirely lying. They had been downtown for a while when driving to and from their mafia's main headquarters. They all hoped no one took notice of all their rings on their hands. They were noticeable, even if they did not have many all together.

"Ohh! You should've invited me! I've wanted to see the new mall!" Leni excitedly stated having forgotten the serious atmosphere. Lori was in the same boat as her younger sister. That new mall that had opened only a week ago had slipped her mind fast, mainly due to the outrageous prices they had.

"What were you guys doing 'down' there?" Luan wondered, with a minor groan from them all for her pun. Lori looked to her boyfriend for any sign of confidence or trust in his skepticism. She could not believe she was in this position

"Don't blame anything on them. I begged them to take me and cover for me," Lincoln insisted he receive the blame, Lucy and Lynn hoping this would work. They couldn't take their rings off now. They were merged with their flesh, so temporarily hiding them in their pockets was impossible. Lana and Lola wondered if this had to do with whatever they saw at the park.

"You were just taking your brother somewhere for the night? Why didn't you tell me?" Bobby requested. It was odd for him to be left out of the loop. He was able to keep a secret, normally Lori and him talked about everything.

"And what was so important you had to go downtown for the span of a whole day? It feels illogical to me," Lisa replied. It was not making sense in her intelligent mind, but she was not going to go into theories of noticeable details until needed.

"What did you need to do down there that you couldn't simply ask us for time out? I and your father would have been glad to drive you somewhere," Mrs. Loud requested, she still worried about her son after being told he was nearly arrested.

"You wouldn't have," Lincoln claimed, acting like he knew his parents would disagree to take him anywhere near there.

"Why not?" Mr. Loud was unsure whether to be angry or not. It depended on if his son told him the truth or not. Otherwise it would be a harsh grounding because this was quite an inexcusable action. Their son looked at all his sisters beyond Lori, Lynn and Lucy.

"Come on, play it cool… make it sound like you're one big awesome boss getting some," Lincada spoke from behind him, peeking her head from behind the couch.

"…Because, I was spending the night with my girlfriend on a romantic date. I didn't think you'd let me," Lincoln exclaimed. He heard a few ear piercing squees, and he got swamped in questions.

"Think me and you are in the clear at least," Lynn said as she and Lucy had gotten out of the way in time and were watching from nearby.

"Who is she?"

"Do we know her?"

"Ohhh! Where did you meet?!"

"Will you bring her to meet us? Will you? Will you?"

"Way to go bro!"

"Girls, breathing space! You can mob them in a minute," Mr. Loud ordered them to calm down for the moment. Bobby was relieved, believing Lori had only done this to act as her brother's driver, everyone else believing Lynn and Lucy having tagged along for the sake of getting out of the house. Unfortunately that alone was not enough to get the questions off them. It was now Lori's turn to make her lie.

"Thanks… I just wanted to go enjoy the carnival with her without anyone meddling," Lincoln apologized, Lincada seeming disappointed while lying flat on the coffee table in the center of the room like it was a bed.

"I gladly took him because… I needed some time to think too Bobby, about us, and really needed help clearing my head," Lori hugged Bobby, claiming she had Lynn and Lucy come along to help her supposedly think on a hard problem. Her boyfriend looked worriedly to her.

"About us?" Bobby hesitantly spoke. Half his friends told him a while back that if his girlfriend was thinking about them in general without talking to him directly, it usually meant the end of a relationship. He had no idea whether to believe it or not. The oldest loud sibling swallowed, mentally chanting to herself; it was for her family's protection, and for their safety and well being. One thing she had not informed her siblings, it was actually something she thought would be great with the new income.

"Yes, Bobby, I've been freaking out the last week about this but thanks to them I'm able to tell you that… well, our relationship skipped a lot of steps, a whole lot of them," Lori stated with a hand on her stomach.

"…huh?" Bobby was confused. Lincoln was still unable to believe the lie, but it was her choice to do it in the end, if it protected their family from knowing the dark truth.

"Honey, don't tell me…" Mrs. Loud looked ready to faint.

"You're only eighteen. You can't be yet… are you?" Mr. Loud looked to be more in disbelief than anything, having already guessed things with his wife.

"Can you please tell me what I'm missing?" Bobby requested.

"Bobby Santiago, really? …fine, I'll say it. I'm pregnant… and you're the father."

The Santiago boy stared, and all eyes averted to Lori. Lincoln, Lucy and Lynn were the only ones acting calm about everything.

"She really is a good actor. Think the mafia has any drama movie star roles? Or maybe for another cheesy soap opera? I could watch one of those!" Lincada chattered, until Lincoln shoved his imaginary clone off the back of the couch and hearing her thud to the floor. The white haired boy plugged his ears for the inevitable noise. Lucy vanished and Lynn plugged her ears with her fingers in an attempt to save her poor eardrums. Lincoln knew he was in debt to his sister for life for willingly going this far to help protect their family from the truth.

"WHAT?!"


	37. Unexpected Meeting

**Authors Note: Thank you all for the support, and let me just say the fic has reached 30,000 views! I cannot believe it either, you all are lovely people! Enjoy this chapter, please. And I am sorry for yesterdays chapter, not being as good.**

Last night had been nothing short of a complete mess. Lincoln and Lori's combination of what they spoke not only did great at covering the mafia lifestyle but made everyone focus on the older blonde. The Loud parent's were happy for their daughter, having believed that she was well aware of the path in life she was going down, no matter how early, and Bobby was so happy that he fainted about three times, having to stay over for the rest of the afternoon as result. It was now the next day, nine o'clock in the morning.

"Feels nice to get out without going on a job," Lincoln was outside the burger joint Burpin' Burger, drinking a chocolate milkshake. He was in an orange short sleeve shirt with white stripes on it, since he had not much else to choose from his closet.

"I barely could sleep last night. Everyone wanted me," Lori sat beside him in a baby blue colored long sleeve shirt and jeans. She had not been in the mood to go out wearing her usual attire. A baby carrier was wrapped around Lori's chest with Lily in it, their parents insisting they take her with them, and they gladly agreed.

"I still can't believe you told everyone about us…" Ronnie Anne muttered. She was in a purple short sleeved shirt and eating french fries. She did not take things well when her boyfriend had informed his family of their relationship, not going far enough to inform them that they had never broken up to begin with, passing it off like they got back together recently.

"Yeah… even I think you're idiots," Lincada appeared on her male counterpart's lap. His eye twitched but he brushed her off. To the others, it looked like he was trying to get a fly off himself.

"Sorry, Ronnie Anne… I love you more than the world, but we had to keep everyone away from the truth, especially Bobby," Lincoln apologized, feeling bad for this, but he never could live with himself if his girlfriend's only real family member she cared for got harmed simply for learning their secrets.

"I'm not mad that you told everyone. I'm mad that you used our relationship as a distraction," Ronnie Anne angrily informed him. Lincoln could not disagree there. He felt guilty for doing this, but he swore to make it up to his girlfriend no matter what, that did seem to make her somewhat happy to know but he never could tell, the black haired girl looked angry most of the time anyway.

"What are you going to do Lori…?" Lincoln rested his milkshake on the table, seeing Lori playing with Lily, the baby girl giggling at being tickled.

"Huh? About what?" The oldest loud sibling chirped looking to them while Lily held onto her left hand, the young couple casting a confused glance to each other

"About, y'know… your lie about being pregnant. We know you aren't. Have you two even done it recently?" Ronnie Anne claimed. It was kind of cruel to use that lie in actuality since Bobby would be devastated if he found out there was no baby. Lori seemed surprisingly calm about it all, even knowing these facts.

"Wellllll… I was kind of only half-lying," Lori started.

"Half-lying?" Ronnie Anne and Lincoln said in unison. Lincoln's phantom just slept on the table. They were not going to let this slip by. They needed to know everything, or else lies would be impossible to keep together, not unless they wanted to risk breaking them all at once.

"Yeah… I was lying about freaking out the last week. I've actually been freaking out the last… month, nearly," Lori confessed. Her younger brother buried his face in his hands.

"You're actually pregnant… Why haven't you told anyone?! You know what this means now, don't you?" Lincoln asked, surprised and upset. He knew the gist of it; she was not only risking her life when joining the mafia, but her and Bobby's unborn child's life. To think he felt horrible enough for putting this kind of stress on her, but during her pregnancy at that.

"We're lying to our families too much as is, but you could have told us about this at least," Ronnie Anne added. It was equally frustrating to her only because she was worried about her brother's relationship. This mafia ordeal was a big mess for them all, but every passing day somehow put another life on the line and a new lie in the metaphorical book. Lincoln knew it was too late to stop the first ring on Lori's hand from merging with her flesh, and she had been aware of this as well.

"I'm sorry Lincy, but I really wanted to help you out… and I knew you'd never let me anywhere near you if you found out about this," Lori apologized while rubbing Lily's head. She felt bad to see her younger brother so miserable. She couldn't live with herself if something had happened to him, and she never even lifted a finger to help. She knew their other sisters felt the same.

"Well… that just means I'll have to get stronger… for you all," Lincoln let out a frustrated sigh, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his new Smartphone, still an older model but a bigger upgrade from the last. He viewed his text messages, though nothing new so far or eye catching.

"I'm with you Lame-o," Ronnie Anne nodded, thinking she could use more personal training anyhow. As good as they had done so far, they sadly could no longer rest idly with their current physical beings. Being able to control a situation and how fast one could end it made a big difference.

"You two are the best… The best anyone could know," Lori smiled, trying to not get overemotional, the two hoping things would be easygoing, but there was no such thing lately for them anymore. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne nodded in reassurance, Lily cooing her usual babble that brightened the tense atmosphere.

"Don't mean to alarm you, but we've got about four people watching us from multiple directions… only two look horribly inconspicuous, and before you ask why I care, it's because if you die, I die too… so make sure there aren't any weird bomb filled briefcases lying around," Lincada chirped. Lincoln blinked, and suddenly his vision was weird, like he could only see from his left eye. He looked across the road at a nearby store where two trench coat wearing people, that were trying to look inconspicuous and failing horribly, he swore he knew them for some reason.

"Wha…what am I seeing right now?" Lincoln wondered aloud. His right eye was showing him the crosswalk behind him. Seeing two different directions at once was disturbing to him. He wondered what exactly his doppelganger was doing to his brain at this rate. He was worried he may lose his mind to his female counterpart entirely, and she may have complete control of him.

"My vision! The idiots in trench coats should wait since they aren't actively approaching us," Lincada hummed, carefree on matters. His vision returned to normal when he shook his head.

"Lincoln is something wrong?" Lori asked. Lincoln had to double look to make sure he didn't imagine the whole thing. Two familiar men in suits were coming their way.

"Lori, get Lily away from here, quickly!" her younger brother ordered, Ronnie Anne seeing what he was looking at now.

"No way… it's them again!" Ronnie Anne saw the two familiar topaz machinery workers, Danny and Jackson, and neither looked happy, nor angry either. The three ruby ring wearing people had no idea what to do. They could not call Nora the entire headquarters was abandoned due to that bomb threat. Lori wanted to refuse and stay to fight, but knew that it would be better to get Lily to safety, and call Lynn and Lucy to hurry over.

"What are you two punks doing here?" Ronnie Anne demanded as she and her boyfriend confronted the two head on. Lincada meanwhile had seemingly vanished again.

"And how'd you get out of jail again?!" Lincoln added, astounded that these topaz machinery goons were able to not only make bail once, but twice.

"We came here to see you two. Isn't it obvious?" Jackson responded with no hesitation.

"We have a lot of cash. It's easy to avoid jail time when you can bribe cops to look the other way," Danny added. Lori by now was gone thankfully. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were about to get ready to fight, planning on knocking them both out fast, right here outside of Burpin' Burgers. But before they could even move, they saw the two grown men fall on their hands and knees before them.

"We're sorry, but we need your help!" Said Jackson.

"…why should we?" Ronnie Anne's eyes narrowed. Were enemy mafia gangs allowed to work together, she wondered, and if not, she wondered if it was even permitted to fake surrendering to get a sneak attack in, but the rules were simple and to the point, so they doubted they missed anything.

"…oh jeez," Lincoln realized that the two who were enemies no longer had rings. The men were missing one finger, each of which meant they had lost their rings, and their jobs. He wondered what became of those fired, Nora had made it out to be the worst thing to happen if anyone lost all their rings.

"Please! We're beggin ya here! We're so sorry for all we've done! We really, really, reaaaallly need help!" Danny apologized profoundly, and the two men in suits had drawn attention to them all. Customers inside the fast food place were looking out the window, seeing the scene before them. Several were recording out of curiosity.

"We'll do anything… anything! Just please help us!" Jackson added. Ronnie Anne felt very uncomfortable right now. She couldn't bring herself to hit people begging for assistance, not even two grown men on the verge of crying.

"Boy, oh boy… having people grovel at our feet… This is a lot more disappointing than we thought it would be," Lincada chirped, again on Lincoln's back. The boy had to make the decision here. Today was going so far normal, and he thought they needed only minor help anyway, whatever was going on people they had knocked out prior were coming to them for help, something was wrong clearly and they couldn't simply ignore it either.

"Alright… We'll hear you guys out," Lincoln sighed, "Come on. Let's go find Lori and we can all talk."


	38. A Leaders Decision

"Sooo… what happened?" Lincoln spoke, breaking the silence.

"Jayzo was not too happy when he heard we got arrested once," Danny explained, "He was angrier that we went behind his back to kidnap that cigarette addicted guy and wound up being beaten by children…"

"It's technically our fault since we didn't ask him for approval," Jackson spoke up, "One rule to never break, doing things without your bosses orders."

Lincoln and his girlfriend had found Lori and gotten her to cancel the emergency call for help earlier. They and Lily stood in front of Danny and Jackson at the bus stop. There they were not the same men they were the other day, neither hostility nor venom from the two of them, and not even their rings or the fingers that once dawned them. It was a harsh shake of reality.

"He cut off your fingers over that? Wow… wish I could say it was harsh, but we broke a million dollar engine and got off scot-free," Ronnie Anne recalled the destruction of the Ferrari engine all too well. She was most likely exaggerating the value of it, but it was still pretty valuable.

"And we're not kids we are young adults," Lincoln corrected the former enemies of his, Lori found herself in the awkward position being informed of everything left her unsure how to feel. The oldest Loud sibling did not want to be anywhere near these guys and did not even want her brother or his girlfriend near them too, if all they had received was life threatening fights. Lily was resting calmly, asleep in the baby carrier on Lori.

"We don't care about our hands as much as we do our lives. Jayzo let us go so we could enjoy one last day of being able to breath before his hitman or one of our former co-workers comes after us," Danny explained the graveness of the situation. They were made pawns by Jayzo and meant to be sacrificed at most, and were very easy to replace.

"Why should we even help you? And even if we did agree, what could we even do to help you?" The pregnant blonde girl stated, "You two should be heading for the first plane to Iceland and try to start fresh with your lives."

"Because you can get information on Jayzo from us! Please don't let us die… It's simple what we need," Jackson rubbed his head. Their plight felt like it was going in circles, but the conversation was making progress, even if felt like the situation was out of Lincoln and his cohorts' control.

Lincoln realized his girlfriend and older sister was looking at him. "What?"

"You are our leader Lincoln… tell us what we do," Lori spoke. Lincoln looked at Danny and Jackson while trying to decide and judge the situation.

"We help them out," Lincoln gave his decision, "These men have tried to kill me twice and Ronnie Anne once, but… I still couldn't live with myself if I let two people die when we could have helped them."

"Really? Pathetic!" Lincada huffed while on the bus bench between the two grown men, the white haired boy not paying her much attention.

"So what do you want us to do?" Lincoln requested.

"Do you want us to hide you or something…?" Lori wondered, rubbing the sleeping Lily's head in her carrier.

"You sure aren't going to be dragging any hitmen to me or my boyfriend's home," Ronnie Anne threatened. If there was a hitman after these two men in suits to kill them off, as well as anyone else in their way, she was not going to even risk one of the Loud or Santiago family members' lives on trying to hide random people they disliked.

"We want you to talk to our boss. You're great with words… Please, you two are the most convincing we know," Danny claimed that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were great at talking their ways out of problems. They were referring to Maddison about that since they had convinced the crazy person to dedicate themselves to just Nora's mafia.

"So you idiots think we can just waltz into your boss's office, sit down and talk to him about calling off a probably very expensive hitman? Nope, not possible!" Ronnie Anne held her head in pain. Already this looked impossible to her. They didn't even know what Jayzo was like, whether he was ruthless or merciful, but he did not exactly like the turf war rules and was relatively new to the Royal Woods mob scene. Lori had to agree at how ridiculous this request was.

"Our boss is very liked in the public's eye. He is a PR overlord. Not only is his medical research advancing every year, he donates to charities and often hosts his own, so that no one will blame him when someone conveniently working for him gets caught and arrested on a job," Jackson declared. Jayzo was able to play the media to his own use to make good news rise and bad news vanish mysteriously, as well as the reporters who attempted to make the bad news public.

"So…?" Lincoln wondered how this helped them at all.

"Well, a new charity he's started begins around lunchtime. It's to raise funds to help provide support to teens that are pregnant or have had children already and are in financial trouble… and for the announcement, he's hosting a gathering for everyone," Danny explained. Their former boss was once again getting the public's attention for his kind work, and no one was the wiser that he was taking 70% of it for himself like he always did.

"And you think we can get close to him at this party?" Lincoln wondered how they would go about this without instantly being besieged due to the rings they wore.

"Hey, moron, I know you don't like me, but it's a charity for pregnant teens, right? Well we got one knocked up blonde and our baby sister. Put the little one to use so we and Ronnie Anne can get in," Lincada chimed up. None of the mafias would hurt those that were pregnant or innocent children. It would be frowned upon majorly and no amount of money could suppress the media from informing everyone a worker of Jayzo's had committed such a crime if it were to happen.

"That's not a bad idea," Lincoln mumbled. The two suit wearing men wondered what he meant. Lincoln turned to his sisters and girlfriend, "It's a charity gathering to support pregnant teens or young parents, right? Well, I mean… One of you is pregnant and we were asked to watch Lily…"

"I'm not showing that much even… am I?" Lori wondered aloud. As far as she had been able to tell, the first month had been relatively uneventful for her pregnancy. She had put on a few pounds but not enough to really be noticeable yet.

"And I don't think anyone would buy me being Lily's mom," Ronnie Anne added, unsure about this. She was aware he wanted her to pretend to be the youngest Loud sibling's mother so they would be able to get in, guaranteed, without having to rely on Lori for it all, especially since when under pressure, she tended to be unpredictable.

"Babies don't look like either parent for a few years, and Lily's barely two," Lincoln replied. Lily looked nothing like either of their parents yet. The only thing that could really be matched to their parents was their mother's green eyes. Most of the Loud family had brown eyes like their father, but Lily and Lucy had inherited their mother's side with the green eyes.

"I hate doing this too, but we're either going to help save these two's lives and maybe get an idea of what Jayzo is… or we all just leave the two and go back home, and we try to sleep tonight, knowing we willingly let them die when they stopped being threats earlier," Lincoln sternly replied. He hated to do this, but he was the leader of their group. He hated the status, but the decision had been made and they had already agreed to help these two. He was not going to ignore them now.

"Doesn't help the two idiots in trench coats are still watching us," Lincada added. Lincoln was able to see through her vision once again when he barely blinked. He did not care for this surprise, but the two people in trench coats and hats were on the street across from them, trying to hide themselves by reading newspapers that had very visible holes cut through them, so they could see through them like pairs of disguised glasses.

"Ignore those idiots, I'm not putting up with them," Lincoln told his female doppelganger mentally, his vision quickly returning to normal.

"…Boy, you really are an idiot, Lame-o… but I'm up for it that and I wanna see Jayzo, just so I know who to hit when we see each other outside of this gathering," Ronnie Anne said while punching one fist to the palm of her other hand, an overly eager grin creeping on her face.

"So far your plans have worked out alright, so… Let's do it," Lori agreed while putting a hand on Lily's head to try and give herself reassurance that this was a good idea. Danny and Jackson looked thankful to hear they had a plan and were at least going to try and save them from Jayzo's wrath. Lincoln knew they would go hide until things were clear, but he felt better knowing he was risking his life to save two others'.

"Come on, everyone. We have to get ready."


	39. Involuntary Actions

**Authors Note: Let me just say, I love you all. Thank you for 300 reviews, and the over 30k views. I feel so happy, and it is great. My life has become more crazy, but I will do my best to keep daily updating.**

It was around four in the afternoon. The atmosphere of Royal Woods night life was more or less setting in around everywhere. The shops would begin to close while clubs or the likes began to open to welcome the summer celebrating party crowd.

"I feel stupid wearing this…" Ronnie Anne claimed, irritably. At the moment she was wearing the baby carrier on her chest, Lily being strapped into it and looking quite happy to be carried by her older brother's girlfriend. Ronnie Anne, despite her irritation, found Lily too adorable to be frustrated with. The infant loud just had an odd aura around her that could clear a tense atmosphere with the slightest of laughter.

"I think anybody would if they wore a carrier on them," Lincoln claimed while walking beside her, the two holding hands. He just presumed that it was the unnatural feeling or the extra weight on the dark haired girl's back that was a problem. They had let Danny and Jackson take refuge wherever they liked, just as long as it was nowhere near their homes.

"You look fine. Don't worry," Lori reassured, Ronnie Anne wanting her to relax. Going into this tense and looking paranoid for anyone within a two foot radius of themselves was going to do nothing but cast suspicion on themselves a lot more.

"Whoa… is this the place?" Lincoln's mouth gaped open at the view of a fifteen story high tower, prominent in the western part of Royal Woods within a business district. A wave of people was going that direction. This was Jayzo's headquarters.

"I have never seen this many reporters before. Maybe we should get hockey masks to hide ourselves from cameras?" Lincada spoke while riding on her male counterpart's shoulders. Lincoln was trying not to let the weight bother him, but having to constantly remind himself that she was imaginary when his body treated her as real was freaky. The only reason he permitted her this height elevation was so she could keep an eye out on any oddities and alert him to it, beyond the two trench coat wearing people who had been stalking them for a good few hours now, but he ignored them as they had made no hostile gestures toward them as of yet.

"Light securi… wait a second," Lincoln caught himself. The security was letting most of the people in, not allowing shady individuals. However, he recognized the four security guards at the front doors as some of the police officers that had gone missing and had their rings sent back to Nora.

"What's up, Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne quirked, wondering why he was stalled.

"Those are our missing co-workers. Nora thought they were dead, but they… they changed sides," Lincoln explained to his eldest sister and girlfriend. Presumably the former police officers rings were sent back as a message, but it was far from a hostile one now they could tell. Each security member wore rings matching machinery and electronics with topaz gems embedded into them. It was quite a shocker to them all.

"What should we do?" Lori asked.

"Do we talk to them or beat'em up?" Ronnie Anne added, wanting an excuse to just take her frustration out on another individual. Lincoln wondered what to do, mentally trying to expedite an answer.

"Hey, earth to myself, we aren't here for them. We're here to save those other two idiots' lives," Lincada reminded him. Lincoln nodded, glad that they could at least agree on staying focused for their objective.

"Ignore them and just continue like we talked about," Lincoln ordered.

"Alright," Lori gave a nod, as did Ronnie Anne to his command. The three made their way past. They did get a few glances at them, but thankfully were able to get inside without a problem.

"…Whooooooa!" They saw a fancy inside entrance at the start, a big banner posted up welcoming everyone to the event. Lincoln and his group saw were the very crowd standing here. This charity was meant to support people who weren't even eighteen yet, many were with children and their parents or other family members with them, and other than them it was photographers left and right, and security being only idly to the side, trying to mingle and act as party guests like it was an afternoon off at work.

"Ah… so many people who ruined their lives so early… shame to know their kids are also gonna be raised in a horrible environment too," Lincada claimed, climbing off his shoulders and standing beside him, holding his other hand. Lincoln kept his focus on the crowd, but the wave of terror settled in him from feeling her ghastly hand holding his.

"These people love the families they made. Otherwise they wouldn't be here…" Lincoln claimed, once again not realizing he was speaking to the people around him,

"No doubt about that," Lori smiled, rubbing her little brother's head. Somehow that big heart of his was always able to think about others before himself. The oldest Loud sibling wished he would put a limit on how far to go for that, considering the selfless acts of kindness is the very thing that got them into the mafia to begin with.

"You really have to quit trying so hard to sound cool, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne informed him, Lily babbling her usual gibberish. Lincoln smiled at their compliments, or at least he presumed so from his girlfriend.

"Okay… look out for someone wearing a lot of rings on both hands. Lazzerson and Nora have that in common, so it's safe to guess Jayzo does, too," Lincoln informed them how they could hopefully identify Jayzo, but with a crowd this big, being able to see everyone's hands was going to be a problem, though they obviously could rule out anyone with children or with the media.

"What if he doesn't even attend these things?" Lori questioned if they had a plan B to this. After all, Jayzo was so popular in the media, yet none of them had seen his face before. It was always because the reporters could never get a picture of him, nor were allowed to publish any articles with photographs of him. It was like he appeared in Royal Woods like a ghost and riveted his position of fame into the veins of the media.

"Let's worry about that, if and when it happens," Lincoln replied. So they all split up to begin searching better, all of them vanishing in separate directions of the crowd. If anything was found or seen, they would regroup fast, as even in the crowd, they and their traits were easy to identify.

"Boy… you really are the fatherly type now, aren't you?" Lincada hummed, not letting go of his hand. Lincoln huffed in irritation as the two approached the more far back area where a lot of refreshments and platters of food were set up for everyone to enjoy.

"What are you talking about now?" Lincoln jerked his hand free from his imaginary doppelganger's grasp. He watched his white haired twin head for the buffet table. He groaned and reluctantly followed.

"I'm in your head, right? I know everything you're thinking, so you should know everything I'm thinking," Lincada hummed. Lincoln let out a frustrated breath. As far as he was aware, their heads were the same, and their minds were the same. The only thing different was their personality. She could talk freely but he could talk to her through his mind. It was all too confusing for him to tolerate or care for, but he had no clue as to what she was thinking at all.

"…Will you please tell me what you meant?" Lincoln repeated politely, doing his best to resist the very overwhelming urge to bash his head into the table until he started seeing stars instead of her.

"Fine…" Lincada rolled her eyes, "You've changed a lot, since you first started working for the mafia. You were terrified but happy to accept death, because you knew it meant that you'd no longer burden your family and friends. No kidding; you actually were happy at the thought of dying, therefore you wanted to die but were too afraid to end it yourself, and you still are thinking suicide might be the better idea to free our family from our debt."

Lincoln so far was able to keep up. He watched his imaginary female doppelganger reach for one of the small strawberry cake slices on the table, her hand going through it. She looked disappointed with the inability to eat.

"But look at you now. You were a person only a few know, now you are a person many know as the dummy." Lincada continued, "You're aware this money can do so much for everyone. Afterwards, you started treating everyone more like they were one of your children instead of your family. I know you're supposed to be the boss, but you're acting like a daddy more than anything."

Lincoln held his head. He was not able to deny nearly any of that. He had noticed some of this himself, but he never considered it fatherly. The young boy was trying to just keep things going as smooth as they could, and make everyone else's lives simpler.

"Well… I mean, Lori is like a second mom. What's wrong with a second dad?" Lincoln asked while looking around. So far, no men wearing much topaz machinery rings in his sight.

"I dunno, bro. Is there anything wrong with it?" Lincada shrugged, "…by the way, I want cake."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. Before he knew it he had a slice of the strawberry cake on a plate in his hands, his eyes widened quite fast. He did not even recall reaching for it. The white haired boy noticed his right arm moving involuntarily to grab the fork.

"What the-?! Knock it off!" Lincoln regained control of his arm fast and stood up. A lot of attention was drawn to him, and he realized that he had verbally blown up on accident, he calmly brushed his rage aside quickly putting on a feigned appearance of joy.

"So-sorry, sorry… there was a fly on my cake…" Lincoln gave the first meek answer in his head. Thankfully the people gazing at him bought that answer, and just thought he was a spoiled child annoyed easily by flies, with an out of vision mother. Lincoln refocused on Lincada who had a grin on her face, as if she had won some long winded argument.

"So… since I can touch you, why don't I put that to use to make you help me look, instead of sitting around here making myself look like an insane idiot! …even if I am one," Lincoln thought to her. Lincada tilted her head, before suddenly feeling her male counterpart grab her by her long white hair and begin pulling her along behind him.

"Ow! ow! ow! ow! ow! ow! Didn't our mommy or daddy ever teach you how to treat a girl?!" Lincada cried in pain.

"Nope, but mom taught me to treat those how you want to be treated, and dad told me to treat others how they treat you. You're a jerk, so I'm gonna treat you like a jerk until you quit being one. Now come on, Lincada!" Lincoln mentally ordered as he continued to drag her toward another room, to continue searching. He was going to take aggressive control of his mind if he had to, because he was not going to tolerate jeopardizing a personal task when lives were in their hands, her taking control of part of his body like that had sent him nearly over the edge entirely.

"You're meaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"


	40. Psychology With Psyche

**Authors Note: To celebrate 300 reviews and the 40th chapter of this fic, I decided to give you dear readers a double update today! Thank you so much for all the support, and enjoy!**

"If this is what happens with every baby someone has, then I'm in for the long haul for the twenty I want…" Ronnie Anne still had Lily in her arms, and she was surrounded by a dozen other mothers her age with children of their own. The dark haired girl had tried to simply ask if they had seen any people with tons of weird looking rings on their hands. Unfortunately they had swamped her and began cooing over how adorable Lily was and asking one question after another, which the Santiago girl did not even have one answer to. She barely even knew Lily's birthday.

"Does she keep you up at night?" one mother popped another inquiry, Ronnie Anne keeping her straight face. If she was going to pretend to be a parent, she was going to be gladly expressing facially that she despised most of the people around here, because she did.

"No, she doesn't really cry much," Ronnie Anne replied, trying to think of an exit strategy. These people were about to make her lose it. She couldn't even tell what half of them said because they talked over each other so heavily.

"Aw… you're lucky to have a content little girl."

"Yeah when mine started teething I gave up a normal sleep schedule."

"Her daddy must be as adorable as she is."

"Hahaha… yeaaaah, well, thanks, thanks… yours are all precious too, but I need to go find her dad and aunt right now. Enjoy the party," Ronnie Anne talked as fast as she could while backing away, and then darted the opposite direction, Lily laughing loudly in her arms at the sudden fast movement.

Suddenly, Ronnie Anne accidentally bumped into someone, the man being only a few feet taller than her."Oof! Jeez… careful sweetheart, ya could've hurt yerself."

"Sorry, just about to lose my mind here," the black haired girl apologized, seeing the man before her with an odd appearance. He had blonde hair the front of it being done up into a small swirl, and wore a belt buckle with a big topaz gem prominently sticking out from his jeans and leather jacket. Scars spread on his neck, and there was something about his hands that they looked metallic and smooth. On each finger was a stack of topaz machinery rings.

"…are you Jayzo?" Ronnie Anne watched the man take a bow before brushing his hair back slightly, only for it to return to its swirl once again.

"Yep! Jayzo Kiandly. Nice to meet'cha, darling," Jayzo introduced himself with no hesitation. Ronnie Anne did not know how to reply. She was not going to tell him her full name, that was for certain.

"I'm Ronnie Anne, and this is Lily," Ronnie Anne tried to be polite here. He was the person they were looking for the last few hours, and she would have gone to get the other Louds instantly if not for the surprise meeting.

"Well ain't she just the pearl of her momma's eye… or should I say, ruby," Jayzo smirked, having his hand out to Lily. The baby loud child grabbed two of his fingers, one in each hand, and giggled loudly at the minor playing. His hands as well as his entire arms were robotic as Ronnie Anne could well see. She had no words to say upon realizing this, and only could wonder was how strong he was exactly. If anything, she could predict him to be as strong as a gorilla.

"Ruby…?" Ronnie Anne's nervousness made things too easy to see through right now. She didn't know what to do. Jayzo stared down at her ruby bird and crab rings, taking a small lap around her as if to investigate them at all angles. Even the floor sounded like it was creaking out an apology each time his boots tapped on them.

"You ain't that little'ne's mom, are ya?" Jayzo went on one knee in front of Ronnie Anne as if to get down to her height. For someone sounding so kind, he certainly came off terrifying, not that Lily seemed to be able to tell. He really was a PR mastermind, just as his reputation proclaimed him to be.

"No, she's not mine," Ronnie Anne replied. A wave of relief washed over her when she saw Lori approaching. Lori had seen them through the crowd and noticed her younger brother's girlfriend's shocked appearance.

"Ronnie, are you okay?" Lori worriedly asked, seeing the man crouched in front of the dark skinned girl. Jayzo stood up and turned around upon hearing the blonde woman's approach.

"Well, you must be this little gal's mother… ah, rubies willing to sink low enough to use children to get near me, eh?" Jayzo shook his head with a light laugh, as if it was too pitiful to him to believe that workers of Nora's were here to harm him, and had been using this charity event and children to get close. He was half right at least, but they were not here to break any of the turf war rules.

"Well since you know who we work for, I'll tell you. I'm not her mom. I'm just her sister… We're not here to fight," Lori replied while taking Lily from Ronnie Anne, aware she had been quite frustrated by trying to care for the youngest loud member, mainly because of how cute she was, and that naturally attracted other mothers.

"Well what in the name of Royal Woods are ya doing here? I haven't done anything to Nora in a week… at least not directly," Jayzo retorted, unsure how to feel about the visit. They claimed it was not with hostile intent in mind, but they treated it like otherwise.

"We want to talk to you… Lincoln- I mean our boss is here with us to talk with you about Danny and Jackson," Ronnie Anne answered, their truthfulness not giving them any trouble, so they were able to keep going until they felt otherwise. The older man rubbed his head, irritated at the mention of the two former topaz machinery mafia members.

"Ah, for pete's sake… it just had t'be 'bout those two morons…" Jayzo murmured reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small hand radio, "Security, find the first idiot you can wearing ruby animal rings and get them to my office."

"Yes sir," a few dozen security officers accepted. Jayzo chucked the radio off to the side somewhere, not caring at all for it.

"Alright, little misses, I'll hear ya out, just because today's a reaaaaaaal good day for me," Jayzo claimed. Ronnie Anne and Lori looked to each other, unsure about this, but were not going to pass out on a chance to get by with sheer reasoning and peace. The three girls headed off with Jayzo toward the elevator to go to his office.

"You were right, Lincada. Money really can get you nearly everything," Lincoln was in awe, he and an upset Lindada standing in the center of an exhibit room. Ancient relics were set up around, including old paintings, wall drawings or the likes, all of which had been taken from other countries of the world. Not many people were in this room, because frankly no one really cared for this, they were here for the charity event gathering after all.

"You're still a jerk, bro…" Lincada commented having still been upset with him over the fact the white haired boy had dragged his imaginary female counterpart by her hair in response to her making him look insane earlier once again

"I love you too, sis," Lincoln laughed, having no remorse for what he did. Lincada however was surprised.

"Wait… you called me sis?" Lincada asked if she had heard him correctly, despite being able to read his mind. Lincoln looked to her, wondering what surprised her so suddenly. He looked around to make sure no one was sneaking up on him, but the room was still empty.

"Yeah I did… why?" Lincoln wondered what was so shocking to her to be referred to as sis.

"You usually go so far out of your way to try and ignore me, but now…" Lincada answered. It was quite shocking to her especially since she might vanish in a day or two, or that was what he wanted so badly prior.

"Because you weren't real… Well that is what I thought at first… I started to realize you might have a reason for constantly trying to get me angry… Whether you're part of my mind or a ghost possessing me or something, I can't be mad all the time, and together we got a lot of potential, but you need to work on not being a jerk. In case you're going to stick around a lot longer than a few days, I'm going to at least welcome you to the family, and do that fatherly thing to you too," Lincoln showed a smile on his face. Lincada had no words to respond, her eyes adjusted on the floor. He was going to try and nice approach, before he went the aggressive route again, he was against abusing anybody if he could help it.

"Lincada, you have a lot of nice tricks and you wouldn't care to use a single one on me if you hated me that much, so you tried to hide it under fear for your own survival right? You can't seem to make up your mind either…" the white haired boy continued while viewing what looked like a thousand year old vase that had been shown little to no care, and been broken several times over and glued back together every single time.

"I told you if you die, I die too!" Lincada repeated in a more flustered manner.

"You look silly when you're flustered, y'know that?" Lincoln grinned, "Half the time you're torturing me so I won't ignore you, and other times you're telling me to live, yet other times you're begging me to tell our family you exist. You seem offended whenever I said the drug is why you exist."

Lincada was quiet, allowing Lincoln to continue.

"You don't want to just be Lincada, do you? You really wanna be Lincada Loud? …Maybe I'm not going as insane as I thought," Lincoln frankly did not believe half the things he said himself, but if there was one thing Lisa taught him, it was to never exclude a single theory, no matter how ridiculous or crazy it was, because sometimes the most crazy turned out to be the most true.

"Since you've told me you are what I wanted you to be… I figure you're another sister," Lincoln added, presuming it stemmed from his constant desire to do nothing but good for his family.

"I'll tell a few of them about you… Only because you have been helping," Lincoln added. When he turned around, he noticed that the room was empty. Lincada was nowhere to be seen. What happened to her, the young boy wondered, until he looked down in his hand and he noticed writing on the palm.

"You're the best brother. Thank you."

The lone loud boy smiled, presuming she would gladly make her return later and had most likely fled to the recluse of his mind like some sort of personal shelter of her own.

"Where did I get a pen...?"

"Mister Loud?" Lincoln heard, turning around to see two security personnel, who were also two former works, approaching. Lincoln readied himself for a possible fight.

"Jayzo requests your presence in his office. Lori and Ronnie Anne are there awaiting you," one guard stated. Lincoln was unsure whether or not to believe them, but they did know their names and they had never met at work. He decided to go in blind and hope for the best just like always. Lincoln relaxed and let his guard down. He would be mad if his siblings and Ronnie Anne had been taken hostage, but nonetheless it would give him the chance to meet Jayzo.

"Alright. Lead the way."


	41. Medical Trial

**Authors Note: Let me apologize, I know having a note each chapter is frustrating. But this is great news I have to share, my fic is on Tvtropes recommendation fic list for the Loud House! I cried when I saw this, I thank you all from bottom of spirit.**

Lincoln followed security all the way up three flights of steps, all of which stretched for so long that his legs felt sore when they finally reached the top.

"Haah… why couldn't we use the elevator?" Lincoln bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. It was his fault for rushing, but the security officers once coworkers of his did not even suggest using the elevator.

"The elevator is only for the boss or his important guests," one security officer apologetically replied.

"And I'm not important?" the white haired boy asked, "This is my family and girlfriend at the meeting with him!"

"Guess you aren't important enough," the other security guard added. Lincoln gave up on arguing and followed the security down a quite eerie hallway, where the carpet was patterned with a weird rainbow of zigzag colors.

"Here's Mister Kiandy's office," the guards said in unison as they opened the door. Lincoln stepped into the office and the door slammed shut fast the second. He saw his girlfriend, Lori and Lily, all in front of a long curved silver desk. The office was quite large, and the windows of the top floor allowed Royal Woods to be seen by the naked eye.

"Whoa…" Lincoln mouthed. The office had tons of paintings lined along the walls, all of Jayzo and that long face of his in several different poses. A large aquarium was in the center of the room, containing only jellyfish.

"Welcome to my office, Mistah Loud. Come have a seat," Jayzo greeted him. His coat was off, and he freely exposed his sleek metallic arms from his shoulders down and more of scars on his neck.

"Holy cow uh… you're Jayzo?!" Lincoln couldn't keep calm, his surprised tone slipping out. He took his seat between Ronnie Anne and Lori. He found Lily in his older sister's arms, nuzzled into her chest and near asleep.

"Y'got'em, pardner. Jayzo Kiandy in the flesh, metal and bone," Jayzo greeted, sounding very cheerful for some eerie reason. The Loud boy's cohorts had already been informed of his great mood due to a special occasion today, and they severely doubted it to be the charity.

"He found us before we found him," Ronnie Anne put her hand on Lincoln's. He could tell how nervous she was. This half augmented mafia leader looked able to snap people's necks to his pleasure, and frankly he looked half insane enough to do it.

"You guys are okay right?" Lincoln asked.

"We're alright, Lincoln. Jayzo has been a very… interesting host," Lori reassured as she rubbed his head, thanking him for the concern. They had not even a single hair on their head touched. The PR mastermind was willing to hear them out.

"That and it's rare ta'see such young'uns working for Nora or Lazzerson. Only reason I know bout'cha both is because you beat the tar out of my two new former partners… twice!" Jayzo claimed. He was being nice to them for more than just their age, but because he admired their determination, "How old are y'all, anyway?"

"I'm going to be thirteen next week," Lincoln answered. This was so far a very peaceful conversation that he was not going to actively sabotage.

"I'm eighteen and Lily's barely two," Lori stated.

"I turned thirteen a few months ago," Ronnie Anne answered. Jayzo was still surprised.

"Sheesh… you young'uns look twice your age. Guess that's stress for ya… 'Spose I ain't in any position to talk either. Now then… y'all said you wanted to talk to me about my fired personnel," Jayzo refocused the topic of the conversation back onto Danny and Jackson. The thankful Louds and Santiago hated being interrogated personally by someone they saw as a form of nemesis. So far neither Lazzerson nor Jayzo had given much reason to really hate them. They seemed more out to handle their own tasks like Nora was the one getting in their way.

"Yeah. They came to us. So what did they get fired for? Was it really because of us?" Lincoln started off the conversation. The Texan man tilted back in his chair looking irritated just from recalling it.

"I wish I could go lobbing off people's fingers just for losing fights… but nah," Jayzo explained, "The reason I got ridda them is because they're idiots! They kept messing up over and over and over again. What y'all did to'em was really just the bottom of the iceberg."

"You know, I kind of had that impression of them," Lori admitted. Those two men tried way too hard to come off as threatening. It only made sense that they were doing it to cover something up. She just wished it was a secret relationship or the likes they had been keeping more than anything.

"Alright, let's cut to the chase, because if we stay here much longer, I'll turn crazy," Ronnie Anne huffed, "We came to ask you to not kill them. We know what happens when all our rings are lost, being fired and everything, but even so!"

"…Boy, this is the most relaxed conversation about murder I've ever had, but I reckon they told ya that to begin with… now lookie here, little missy. I wanna know why I should call off their firing from life. Do you know how much it costs to hire a hitman?" Jayzo questioned. He was far from able to do it himself. Being in the eye of most media constantly made leaving his building seem like one big publicity stunt.

"Uhhhh…" the three stuttered, unsure of a good answer. The topaz machinery leader stood up and walked over to a small statue bust of his head, the Louds and Santiago watching him.

"Good answer, because there are a lot of variables that affect the price… It cost me twenty grand because I needed their bodies to vanish from existence, and I rake in a ton of money, but twenty-k is still twenty-k. You young'uns should understand how much that is," Jayzo declared, tapping one of his metallic fingers against his statue's forehead.

"This bust, right here, cost me only five thousand, and the morons still screwed up. My forehead is way bigger than that," Jayzo complained and compared them. They watched as he grabbed the head of the statue of himself, gritting his teeth as he began to squeeze with his hand. Cracks formed in the statue head, until it suddenly broke apart and erupted into small stone chunks that flew down to the floor.

"Meep," Lincoln watched the augmented man wipe dust off his metal palms. The buck toothed boy had lost a lot more confidence now. If the man was trying to make a point, he certainly made it clear. He had money to burn and the strength to make sure no one opposed him. Lori and Ronnie Anne had no words either, both stunned from this.

"I… uh… we… they… uhhhh… Lo-look, they're human beings. If they were perfect, they would not be who they are. They don't deserve to lose their lives because they messed up a few times working for you," Lincoln tried to courageously reply. Jayzo, however, did not buy it.

"Buckeroo, every life has a price… and let me just ask you something what do you think happens to us when we die? No one gets out alive, so what do you think happens? I don't care about what the woman who's got your heart, or what the older preggo have to say. I just want to hear your thoughts," Jayzo requested to know what the white haired boy thought happened when one died. It was something everyone inevitably came across in their lives, a thought that no one could escape, whether it be during the end of their lifetime or the middle.

Lincoln looked at the ground, Ronnie Anne and Lori concerned for him. They all were afraid that their lives might end abruptly, but they were more than willing to accept it if it was to help each other out. They wondered if he needed help.

"We don't die completely… I'd like to think that we live on in others' memories and hearts. Our bodies are weak, but the heart can handle a lot of emotions and the mind can cope. Someone will know your story whether you tell them yourself, or if they hear it from another person, and I've heard a lot of peoples stories," Lincoln answered. He had listened to so many of his coworkers' life stories, that it made the most sense to him that everyone that cared or loved him would remember him if he died, that was one reason he was able to face death so calmly. Because he did not feel like it was the end of his existence, just the end of his physical being.

"Huh… That's actually poetic, partner," Jayzo chuckled, seeming happy with the answer. Ronnie Anne found it nice, but she was going to do her best to make sure her boyfriend lived, same for his family and her own.

"Is there anything we can do to convince you to let them live?" Lori requested. The older augmented man scratched his head.

"Well, I reckon I could let'em live if y'all are willing to do something for me," the topaz machinery mafia leader declared. The three were ecstatic to hear the opportunity to save their lives, hoping whatever he wanted from them was simple enough.

"What do you need, Mister Kiandy?" Lincoln happily exclaimed. Jayzo reached down and hit a button. Part of the desk opened up to let a computer pop up from inside it. He began to type away, trying to pull up something.

"Well, me and my company make a lot of medicine, drug treatments, therapy trials, all that… And recently we've been trying to find a way to speed up the regenerating ability of the human body… And look, I hate to sound rude, but you two look like you're gonna take a long time to heal," Jayzo claimed, looking to Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.

"Frankly I think it'll be our best achievement yet, money wise anyway...Personally I'mma lot happier since we've done learnt how to remove the rings stuck to our fingers, we also learnt how to make them bond faster!" Jayzo added, Lincoln guessing this is what became of their former work partners, that they had received a far better deal and gladly took it. He was more surprised to hear the rings could be sped up to bond faster, or removed entirely with such ease from the sound of it. Lincoln was wishing he could inquire about it right this moment, but doubted even if he got a hold of the method to remove rings, that Lori would refuse to take it.

"Oh no… You don't want them to test this stuff do you? Is it even safe?!" Lori demanded answers while standing up. She did not even want to let her brother and his girlfriend near this drug trial if it meant they could die or get horrible side effects.

"Ma'am, I'm putting my biscuits over the bonfire just talking to you three about this. I got a lot on the line for this… And there aren't any side effects, as long as you take the dosages separately and only twice a day, at the right times," Jayzo explained. He hit the last button on his keyboard and turned the monitor to their direction to let their eyes look at it.

"What's that?" Lincoln asked. It was a video of a laboratory, where men in bio hazard suits were right beside a bald woman covered in a blanket that hid her torso and lower body, only her head and arms exposed, and a set of surgical tools around the bed she lay on.

"Test subject thirty-nine admitted last night at 1:28am, has several tumors in her left arm due to being exposed for long periods of time to irradiated material while working for the military," one of the men in the bio hazard suits spoke out in a gravelly voice. Lincoln watched the recording where the woman held out her left arm. It had several bumps with marks on them, normally for indicating where surgeons could cut for an operation or such.

"Pain killer was administered fifteen minutes ago, and we are injecting the Jianko medicine Version E," the other man spoke as they had a large syringe filled with a bright yellow liquid. The woman closed her eyes, as she was injected into her barely exposed chest by the syringe, the liquid forced into her. The syringe was then removed from her body.

"Whoa…" Ronnie Anne stared. The hole that the syringe had made was already recovering in seconds, right before their very eyes.

"Oh gosh…" Lori covered her mouth. It all looked disgusting to her. The two men began to cut into the woman's arm at each marked point, working quite brutally to remove each cancerous tumor in her arm. Twenty minutes of this gruesome surgery passed, all while Lily was in the corner in a security guard's arms to make sure she didn't wake up to see anything, when Lori had requested this. Jayzo was smoking a cigarette as the three ruby animal ring wearing mafia members watched the entire ordeal.

"Test has been a failure… Subject's arm will need complete amputation. The tumors grow back faster than we can remove them. Chances of survival, however, are very slim," the first man spoke in the recording. The woman was acting like they had not even touched her though. Just like that, the recording ended.

"Welp, before you go freaking out or start throwing up on my desk, that only happened because we gave the patients far too much of a dosage. The formula's been improved, and now the method of tiny injections over the course of a week's time has proven a lot more positive," Jayzo claimed. Lincoln could tell that Lori and Ronnie Anne were not able to speak, their eyes stuck wide open at the horrific recording of surgery they saw.

"Th…then why do you need us to test it if you know it works, and have the safe way to administer it?" Lincoln finally got the nerve to speak up again. Jayzo puffed out a ring of cigar smoke as the computer retracted into his desk.

"Because we can't get approval to use it on anyone who's alive. No one will volunteer, and they don't like the results of our lab rats… So, do we got a deal bucko? Will you and your gal here test the drug? Or would'cha rather those two be left to die by the hit man's hands," Jayzo questioned. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were both hurt and still recovering, but were the only two really valid to test it. Lori could not, even if she wanted, to due to her pregnancy. As leader, Lincoln had to speak up to decide.

"Alright… We'll do it…"


	42. Chase

"I can't believe we actually did it that easily," Lincoln walked out of the charity event with his girlfriend, and Lori who had Lily back in the baby carrier on her chest again. The dark skinned girl felt a million times better to be out of that large, suffocating crowd.

"Except now we're guinea pigs for a week," Ronnie Anne reminded him. Lincoln held a small sleek silver briefcase in his hand that had a large gear logo on the side, and a finger print scanner on it that could only read their thumbprints, Jayzo having given them the Jianko medicine to trial in trade for Danny and Jackson's lives to be spared.

"I dunno. You're cuter than a guinea pig," Lincoln replied with a bright smile. Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes, unable to prevent a small smirk from sneaking onto her face before putting an arm around her boyfriend, giving him a quick kiss.

"You're a big softy, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne chuckled. Lori smiled at the scene as they walked, the sun having set a little ago and night about to settle in. The oldest loud sibling could tell why her brother was so happy. There was a burst of joy exploding in him from knowing he had saved two people from death without even having to raise a single finger in threat, protest or anger.

"I can't wait to see their faces! They're going to be overjoyed… especially once I ask them to join Nora," Lincoln hummed. His girlfriend and sister suddenly halted, making him stop as well, right outside of a café. Lincoln saw where they were and wondered if one of them wanted a coffee or a slice of cake. He never had been in a café much, but it would be nice to try out.

"What? Did I say something?" Lincoln wondered if he had upset his girlfriend and sister. The silence was somewhat rubbing his joy away like a pencil eraser to a drawing.

"You had to harm Nora to get her to let your sisters join. These two got away from theirs which cost them a few fingers, but they got away is the point. Why would they risk their lives joining another mafia?" Ronnie Anne countered. It sounded very stupid to her that anyone who escaped death once would walk right back onto the grim reaper's porch.

"What happens to those with criminal records?" Lincoln quirked.

"Who do you think I am, a judge? I don't know," Ronnie Anne replied.

"People with criminal records do have a rougher time trying to get jobs… Oh no," Lori groaned, holding her head. She understood what her white haired sibling was saying.

"Yeah. Those two aren't going to get out of the mafia lifestyle too well… and look, they have information about Jayzo. They don't have to join Nora, but they can still work for her," Lincoln explained. It was a rare chance they had to obtain important information on an enemy mafia leader. Every little bit was hopefully game changing in the Royal Woods mafia scene, depending on whatever Danny and Jackson knew. They might even be allowed to work for Nora without having to dedicate themselves, but that was their choice.

"As long as you do all the talking, I'll go with it," Ronnie Anne shrugged, agreeing with her boyfriend, as did Lori. These two were now in debt to them for saving their lives, and returning the favor with a nice long stream of information sounded like a fair trade.

"Bro, we're still being stalked," Lincada suddenly chimed up. Lincoln blinked, not seeing his twin anywhere until he looked up, seeing her standing on the wall beside the café. The long white haired girl had kept her happiness from that talk they had earlier.

"Seriously? They're still following us?" Lincoln could not believe it. The two people remained in horrible disguises that made them stick out like a signal flare, trying to look inconspicuous in a small crowd of people.

"What should we do? They're going to follow us home if they haven't given up now…" Ronnie Anne predicted. Lori held onto Lily, her fear growing and slowly getting on her nerves.

"Lori, you stay back with Lily and the medicine. Ronnie and I are gonna give them an unfriendly visit," Lincoln ordered while handing the silver case over to his older sister.

"But… alright," Lori looked nervous to be left with it, still not feeling confident in letting her sibling and his girlfriend near this stuff, but sadly, with their younger brother as boss, they had no choice but to listen to his orders.

"That's what I'm talking about," Lincada grinned, Ronnie Anne cracking her knuckles.

"You make sure I don't lose track of them," the white haired boy thought to his female counterpart.

"Righty-o!" Lincada nodded before vanishing suddenly, like always. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne began to hastily approach the two poorly disguised individuals, not making even the slightest bit of effort to hide the hostile aura around them. They were out to make sure they wouldn't be followed a step further.

"Looks like they're running," Ronnie Anne told her boyfriend, seeing the two begin to head the opposite direction in a hurried pace.

"Doesn't matter. They'll hide, and when we stop chasing, they'll be right back to following us. Let's get them in a corner and let them know personally that it isn't smart to stalk us," Lincoln insisted. Just like that, the two ran after the disguised figures at full speed.

"Never realize how crowded a street is until you're running through it," Ronnie Anne couldn't help but laugh somewhat. Unfortunately, the two they were pursuing had a head start on them. The jam-packed night party crowd was going in separate directions constantly, so they had to try and do their best to weave through the crowd.

"Sorry! Excuse me! Sorry!" Lincoln kept apologizing for each person he wound up bumping over or knocking aside. At times like this the young boy was very thankful they were slightly shorter than most their age. They at least were able to slip underneath anyone carrying something.

"They split up," Lincada informed her male twin. Lincoln could tell for himself. One tried to lose them by going into a Chinese restaurant.

"I'll get that one," Lincoln called to Ronnie Anne before splitting off after the one he saw enter the restaurant.

"Of course, the one restaurant that was packed!" Lincoln huffed in irritation. The person he chased after was making their way out the back door. The white haired boy needed to no longer go the long route, and he began to slide under or hop over tables. He saw a window to the kitchen where food was placed for waiters to come take it to be delivered.

"You're insane bro, but I like it," Lincada laughed, watching Lincoln throw himself through the opening. He landed and managed to quickly get back on his feet, watching the back door fly open. He hurried after, able to stop running once outside, gaining a big grin on his face.

"Found you! You should've gone left," Lincoln joked. He found and cornered one of the stalkers at an alley that had a fenced off section. The only other way out was past the young boy, and he disallowed himself to be a breakable roadblock.

"Now tell me who you work for," Lincoln slowly stomped toward them. Each time his foot hit the ground beneath him, it was like an echoing shock wave of terror.

"And take that stupid outfit off!" Lincoln added yanking right at the hat and trench coat, removing them. When he realized who it was, he felt his heart stop and all his rage vanish.

"Leni…?"

"H-hi, Lincy… you sure ca-can run fast," his second oldest sister stood there with a nervous grin and sweat from the long chase, partially intimidated by her younger sibling's raging pursuit. She hated to imagine what would have happened if he had decided to throw punches instead of disrobe her of her disguise.

"Are we screwed?" Lincada asked while sitting on a nearby trash can. Her male counterpart was too terrified to respond to her, as the situation was set in.

"Leni… what are you doing? You've been following us all night?!" Lincoln tried to stay calm, but it was all shocking to him. The long blonde haired girl nodded.

"Yeah! Now that Lori's a stork, Luan said we should keep an eye on her and you… she then asked me to keep this camera on you as much as I could," Leni explained. Lincada could not help but laugh a little, hearing Lori be referred to as a stork. Their low IQ sibling was too sweet to be upset with. Lincoln saw a camera held out by Leni. He could not tell what to be more upset about; that his siblings had been following and recording their moves or that Leni and Luan were involved at all, he took the camera from her to look it over.

"Luan put you up to this…?" Lincoln looked over the video camera recording. It was shocking, because one of the comedians golden rules was to never record someone without their permission, and he believed that she broke it.

"I asked if there was anything I could do to help… we couldn't follow you all into that weird big party though, the guards kept saying we were too creepy," Leni added, unknowing as to why her lone brother was so upset. It was as if that long chase slipped their mind.

"…well… thanks for being worried about us," Lincoln sighed. Lincada approached beside him, putting her hand on his and forcing him to close the camera instead of being subjected to watching a lot of the bad night again.

"You're the boss, even if you are a dummy. What should we do?" Lincada asked. They had two choices; delete the video footage and blame it on Leni's incompetence, or they could take the camera and break it into a million pieces. The young boy had a better idea in mind, one that would make everyone happy.

"Lincy, I'm sorry for upsetting you… you aren't mad with me are you?" Leni asked, watching her younger brother put the lens cap back on the camera while he hit record, letting the video camera record over the prior footage from the stalking so there would only be darkness, a common mistake anyone left with a camera could make. No matter how smart they were, Leni would not be blamed for it at all.

"I should be asking that… hahaha," Lincoln laughed lightly as he put an arm around her waist, hugging her. Leni felt a lot better knowing he was not mad at her.

"You're my brother… I'm always going to worry about you," the long blonde haired girl stated, Lincoln gave her back the camera, letting her pocket it. By the time Luan would retrieve it, there would be nothing but darkness.

"Come on. We need to get home," Lincoln told Leni, his older sister nodding as she followed him off to go get the others, Lincada following in her usual manner. Lincoln suddenly realized that in this chase, his girlfriend went after Luan.

"Oh no… Luan! I hope Ronnie didn't go overboard with her…"


	43. Giving Into Insanity

"Leni? What are you doing here?" Lori saw her younger sister and Lincoln approach her. They both looked pretty happy. Lily began reaching for Leni, happy to see her older sister.

"Hi, Lori! I was stalking you," Leni answered without batting an eye lash. Her older sister stared, unsure what to say in reply to that.

"Lily! Aww, you missed me?" Leni took the infant Loud from Lori's arms, upon seeing her reaching out wanting to be hold by her second oldest sister. Lori looked down at Lincoln, the white haired boy shrugging while taking the silver case from her, making a motion to imply everything was fine. Lincoln still wondered how to go about telling a few of his siblings about Lincada. He figured starting with the sisters working with him in Nora's mafia. He just hoped Lori Lucy and Lynn would hear him out.

"Hey, lame-o! Good and bad news! I caught the stalker! Problem is who it is," Ronnie Anne called out, approaching him and carrying an unconscious Luan in her arms, having disrobed the comedian of her disguise. She did not seem hurt at all beyond a bump on her forehead, but Lincoln came over anyway in concern.

"Luan! …What happened to her?" Lincoln saw only a bruise on his comedic sister's forehead, taking her into his arms since Ronnie Anne had done the carrying. He still hoped his girlfriend had not gone overboard from the chase.

"She tried to lose me at a playground, but she ran face first into the monkey bars," Ronnie Anne explained. She remembered the noise of a hollow skull bouncing off a metallic object. She was glad to have caught Luan, but clearly things had become very confusing. Leni was playing with Lily, both giggling aloud.

"Sheesh… Well at least it's nothing too bad," Lincoln stated. Luan only had the bump on her forehead, and no blood or cuts. He was still doing his best to help treat the injury, and when he did so to the best of his ability, he rested his brown haired sister down on the bench beside them.

"This problem's handled itself, don't worry… I'm going to give you your half of the medicine and I'll take my half," Lincoln claimed, thinking it was time they all started heading home. Lincada appeared out of nowhere and seated herself on the bench beside Luan, the lone loud boy having almost let his promise to her slip his mind as he was opening the silver case.

"There's something I've wanted to tell you, too…" Lincoln started as the case opened, revealing two long sets of tiny syringes, each filled with the yellow liquid, the Jianko Regenerative Medicine as it was titled. The lone loud boy pulled out one set of the syringes. They had been given enough to last a week for both of them. They had to take the medicine twice a day at the right times. Lincoln handed over one set of the medicine to Ronnie Anne, and so she took the bandoleer of syringes, wrapping it up before stuffing it in her pocket, thankful that they were so tiny.

"What is it?" Ronnie Anne requested him to continue. She was very happy that her boyfriend at least was being honest with her so far. Their relationship had not really been affected with the stress put on it. If anything, it just brought them closer together. The buck toothed boy could see that Leni was distracted with Lily and Lori, so he was free to tell Ronnie without the others eavesdropping.

"Well… I kind of have an eleventh sister now," Lincoln just came out and said it. His girlfriend tilted her head, with no idea what he meant, but could only guess what.

"Oh… your mom's pregnant again?" Ronnie Anne quirked, ready to congratulate her boyfriend, but Lincoln shook his head.

"N-no, she isn't… At least not yet…" Lincoln mumbled. Not able to deny that he and his siblings half the time expected to hear a big announcement that a new Loud family member was on the way. Their parents tended to enjoy their time together to a heavy amount. Sometimes quietly, other times not so much.

"Oh. So you're you talking about Lori's baby? I mean you'll be an uncle, but I guess you can see them as a sibling. How do you even know what it is yet?" Ronnie Anne asked for clarification, though her boyfriend had told her once on a date that girls were the most common thing for the family to have. No one had any idea why. It was just a trait that life decided to give the Louds. Lisa assumed it was their parents having an abundance of X chromosomes.

"No, I'm going to still be the best uncle I can for Lori's baby, but no… I mean, my eleventh sister is right beside us," Lincoln stated, Ronnie Anne seeing him look to the bench where Lincada sat beside the unconscious Luan. The dark skinned girl of course could not see the white haired girl at all, so she had one eyebrow raised while looking to her boyfriend.

"I do technically fall under mental illness, so this is on you… unless you want to let me possess your body?" Lincada offered. Lincoln wanted to initially shoot that down, but then again he was aware his female counterpart could very well take control of his body if he relaxed and let his guard down. She had done it at the party earlier when she wanted cake after all.

"Lincoln! Are you alright?" Ronnie Anne asked while putting a hand on his shoulder. So far his family had not come over to him.

"Ah… no, not really, but look, I'll let you talk to her," Lincoln replied. Lincada was surprised that he was actually going to let her do this. The young boy wondered what he had to do. He was relaxed and more than willingly allowing his mental barrier down.

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle," Lincada hummed. While he wondered what his female half meant, he suddenly felt her hand enter his back, before she climbed into his body like it was a weird suit. The white haired boy felt a disturbingly calm warmth overwhelm him,

"Wha… what's going on?" Lincoln wondered. He couldn't feel anything. It felt like he was put in the back of his own mind. He could see and hear what was happening, but could not control himself or anything around him. In a few seconds, the young boy realized. He was the one sitting on the bench, his eyes wide.

"Wait… I'm now the… what did you do to me?!" Lincoln panicked. No one could hear him beyond Lincada who had taken control of his body. He felt as though his mind was ripped out.

"I did what you asked bro, calm down," Lincada spoke. Ronnie Anne stepped back. Her boyfriend's tone sounded different now. She couldn't put her finger on why, but he did not sound like himself. Lincada motioned Lincoln that she had no intent of keeping his body anymore than he allowed. Otherwise they would not be able to really coexist with each other.

"Lincoln, who are you talking to?" Ronnie Anne was beginning to worry. It was actually freaking her out so much. She couldn't even blame the medicine's side effects, because they had not taken any of the jianko regenerative formula at all, and they were supposed to start on it tomorrow.

"Oh, right! You can see and hear me now! Sorry, not used to that. I'm Lincada! It's a pleasure to meet you," Lincada bowed to Ronnie Anne like she was royalty.

"Lincada…? Lincoln, do you have brain damage?" Ronnie Anne responded. Lincoln was going to stay on the bench, willing to see if his female twin could handle this or not. Otherwise he was going to step back into control. The young boy could not deny that it felt nice to be able to take a back seat for once, despite his constant stress and worry.

"There's a good chance of that. Yes, from drugs beatings and hard hits to the head, but I dunno what brought me to exist beyond Lincoln himself," Lincada replied, scratching her head, trying to figure out how to exactly prove she was someone else. It was hard to do when she herself did not exactly have a physical being. Suddenly the white haired girl had an idea.

"That's right! Since he isn't in his body right now, he can show me things I can't see," Lincada stated. Lincoln was unsure what to think on that one. He knew the abilities she had when he was in control, but he doubted he could do it himself for her.

"Oh really?" Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes but decided to play along on this, and put both hands behind her back, "Fine then. How many fingers am I holding behind my back?"

Lincada looked to her male half for answers, and he shrugged.

"Well? Step behind her and tell me," Lincada thought to him.

"Okay, fine, fine…" he exhaled in irritation, hoping his other siblings would not give this much trouble when being introduced to her. He walked around behind his girlfriend, looking at her hands. He never noticed how bruised, scratched and cut they looked. It was a depressing thing for him to see.

"She has five up," Lincoln informed the girl possessing his body at the moment.

"You have five fingers up," Lincada declared. Ronnie Anne looked shocked, but quickly tried to play it off.

"L-Lucky guess…" the black haired girl believed anyone could get lucky with even the most random of guesses.

"You have two fingers on your right hand up, the thumb and pinky. The three on your left hand that are up are your thumb, ring finger and pinky," Lincada went into more detail about it, repeating exactly what her twin informed her. Lincoln gave a thumbs up while standing behind Ronnie Anne.

"Whoa… so wait… Lincoln's standing behind me…?" Ronnie Anne turned around. Lincoln could not help but grin and wave his hand through her.

"This is a lot more fun then I realized," the single loud boy confessed, wondering how far he could exactly get with these ghostly abilities.

"Do you believe who I am now? Lincada loud the one and only," Lincada repeated her introduction. Ronnie Anne was at a loss for words. She had to keep an eye out for when her boyfriend had a higher pitch, because the vocal change was the main notable difference beyond their posture and movements.

"…you know, I really shouldn't be surprised with anything anymore. I mean we're testing some magic drug for the mafia that's supposed to make our injuries get better faster," Ronnie Anne wondered to herself why she was even shocked with anything her boyfriend surprised her with anymore, normal was not a thing with the Loud family.

"Sorry, but I've only come to exist recently… Well, I'll let you have my brother back. I don't think he's enjoying the ethereal lifestyle," Lincada bid Ronnie Anne farewell.

"No, I'm actually enjoying it a lot. I feel like I can- AHH!" Lincoln ended up ripped into his body at a sudden high force, trading places with Lincada. The boy fell onto his knees, feeling quite shaken.

"Ohh… I think I'm gonna be sick…" Lincoln held his stomach in a slight daze, feeling like he came out of an infinite spin of a roller coaster.

"Well… congrats on the eleventh sister, Lincoln, but I'm going to go home. Tonight's been too freaky," Ronnie Anne told her boyfriend. She needed time alone to try and absorb the recent news.

"Thanks… bye Ronnie Anne, I love you," Lincoln told his girlfriend as they exchanged a brief kiss. He watched as the dark haired girl begin to walked away so she could get back home, both thankful that Bobby was too caught up in Lori's pregnancy to really pay any attention to his sibling. Though the young boy could not tell if his girlfriend took this well, or very poorly.

"Lincoln, are you okay?" Lori called out as she and Leni approached, the oldest loud girl helping her brother off the ground, wondering if his girlfriend had hit him again, but they saw no blows exchanged.

"Yeah… just… very dizzy… Can you help me carry Luan? We should probably get home," Lincoln insisted they all head for home. Luan still was sleeping away with a small bit of drool coming down her cheek.

"Of course! It's getting late anyway, as much as I wanna check out the stores…" Leni agreed. She went over and helped Lincoln up before the two went to grab Luan. They had to carry her back after all, Lori was holding Lily and the silver case. Lori wondered what was going on, but she was aware her brother had something to inform her about by the look on his face.

"When we get home," Lincoln decided to whisper to Lori, "I need to talk with you, Lucy and Lynn."


	44. Hard To Prove

**Authors Note: Thank you all for 35k views! As thanks here is your double update for today!**

After another hour of travel, Lincoln and Lori arrived back home, Lori holding Lily and the silver case. Lincoln was working with Leni to carry Luan who was out like a light, unable to wake back up tonight it appeared. Usually the comedic loud girl would wake up earlier than most in the morning to practice her comedy routine, and get ahead of everyone else for the bathroom and shower.

"Mom and dad were wondering if we had agreed on a place to go to for a vacation," Leni claimed, having had it slip her mind until now. The entire family was split on that matter. No one had really remembered it either, like they expected it to be cancelled because no one could agree on where to go.

"No clue. I'm letting someone else pick," Lincoln was not going to fight, but opt in for anywhere to go, but he was more worried about how Nora would react to him and his family co-workers asking for vacation days.

"Aw… what about you, Lori? You wanted to visit South Carolina right?" Leni looked to the oldest sibling.

"I'm with Lincoln," Lori shook her head, "I don't really care anymore. A good vacation right now would be lying in bed for a day straight imagining I was somewhere else."

As they got inside, they rested Luan on the couch. Leni looked very disappointed to hear that neither cared for where they went, but the fashion lover guessed as long as the entire family was there, then anywhere was good.

"Welcome home, everyone! How did your days go?" Mrs. Loud welcomed her children home, before seeing Luan asleep with the bump on her head.

"Don't worry, she just fell," Lincoln reassured their mother that Luan was fine, Lori handing over the sleeping Lily to their mom.

"Things were fine. Lily was absolutely perfect," Lori said happily, but remembered her little brother wanted a personal talk with her and two of their other siblings.

"Oh that's great dear, are you feeling okay?" Their mother asked.

Lori sighed over her parent being concerned for their grandchild. She insisted she was fine, but every last person in this family could tell several things were wrong with multiple of their members. Lincoln took the distraction as the opportunity to slip upstairs with the silver case in his hand, glad he did not have to worry about anyone opening it. Only his and Ronnie Anne's thumbprints could open it, Jayzo having reassured no amount of force would open it.

"You think they're gonna give us as hard a time as our girl did?" Lincada chirped while riding on his back, having appeared out of nowhere once again.

"I have no idea, but you know how it is…" Lincoln murmured, "We go in blind."

"And hope for the best," she laughed before being tossed off his back onto his bed. Lincoln rested the silver case on his dresser beside the makeup kit, which at this point served more as a memorabilia item.

"I wouldn't mind if this medicine actually worked… I miss my old self a lot," Lincoln looked at his horribly injured body, rubbing his head. The slashes on his arms at least were healing alright, appearing like they were not going to leave any scars behind. He did have Nora's phone number, and if he ever needed to get ahold of Doctor Jeffrey, he could call her in a heartbeat.

"You're not having second thoughts about telling them about me… are you?" Lincada asked while sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You said you know all my thoughts, so you tell me if I'm changing my mind," Lincoln shrugged. His form of what he believed to be manifested insanity did not reply realistically. She had lost all her ability to know what he was thinking after she had taken control of his body, which was frankly very worrying to her.

"…are you ever worried that you'll have to choose one day?" She tried to strike up an odd topic for the conversation. He had no idea what she meant though.

"Choose what?" Lincoln was making sure he had enough of the Jianko regenerative formula for the trial. Thankfully there was enough for two doses every day, just like Jayzo said.

"Who lives and dies," Lincada explained "You know… if it comes down to it and your sisters get kidnapped, because some dork in the mafia went insane and broke the rules. People love torture, and a grand torture is making someone decide two people's fates."

"Where's this coming from? Can't say I haven't thought about it before, but y'know… I already have a plan for that," Lincoln claimed while shutting the silver case tight.

"You do? What is it?" Lincada chirped. The boy sighed, wishing he did not have to talk about it. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that would not happen, but planning for the worst was what everyone needed to do sometimes.

"If this ever happened…" Lincoln spoke, "…and someone put a picture of my family in front of me and told me which do I want to be killed to let everyone else live, I'd point to myself."

"You seriously would do that? Without any hesitation?" Lincada was a little awestruck at how noble he was for his family, even if it was a hypothetical scenario. The selfless boy could tell his female doppelganger had a burden on her that seemed related to a tough choice, but he had no idea what since nothing came to his mind about the matter.

"It is true what everyone has told me… Everyone's life has a price and worth, compared to anyone in my family. I'm not even worth a thousand dollars, and they're all worth millions to me," Lincoln replied. The phrasing he heard from before became more believable to him each passing day.

"Lincoln? Are you okay?" Lucy suddenly had appeared out of nowhere, startling her older brother. Lincoln got over his minor heart attack fast, gazing to his sister.

"He-hey, Lucy… No, not really. In the next five minutes, you're probably gonna think I'm insane," Lincoln claimed, hoping that Lucy at least didn't hear him talking to herself.

"Sorry. Mom wouldn't stop asking me things…" Lori apologized as she and Lynn entered the room, Lucy having gone ahead of them. Now that they all were here, Lincoln went over and closed the door, locking it.

"We heard you met the other mafia leader. Are you okay? Did he threaten you? I swear if he did I'll…" Lynn inquired worriedly, while holding his shoulders. Lincada lay flat on the bed, thinking this was a great start to the long chatter.

"Lynn, Lynn! No, Jayzo was nice and in a great mood. He was just… intimidating," Lincoln presumed that since he had told them they would be back around lunchtime, but they had been gone all day, that was why Lynn was so worried.

"So what is it you wanted to talk to us about?" Lori requested. Lucy pulled Lynn off their brother, sharing her auburn haired sister's worry, but Lincoln was clearly unharmed as he stood before them.

"Let's just start from the beginning," Lincoln huffed, ready to burn the next hour trying to prove Lincada's existence, or at least her presence. Luck was not on his side though. The conversation had gone several other directions. From there, he let Lincada take over his body again.

"C'mon! How can I prove I'm not Lincoln…?" Lincada asked her sisters while Lincoln watched from nearby, sitting on his television. He felt light as a feather, so it was nice to put the trick to use when relaxing.

"Lincoln, calm down… Look, whatever we can do to make the transition easier, we'll do it. Just say the word," Lori reassured, Lincoln wondering what they meant. Lincada was even more confused since she was the one piloting his body like he was a hollow robot.

"Whadd'ya mean? I'm Lincada, for the last time…"

"There's no need to be embarrassed. If you don't feel like a boy then that's fine… its perfectly fine to be transgender," Lynn tried to reassure. Lincoln stared in shock. Lincada looked ready to break down laughing. The conversation had become so awkward and strange that it had somehow convinced their sisters that their single brother was trying to transition genders. The makeup kit left lying around was good evidence as is.

"This is weird…" Lucy murmured while scratching her head. Lori couldn't agree more.

"What'll it take to prove I'm not Lincoln?" Lincada asked, the three sisters looking between one another. Lynn went to their brother's closet, where he kept all of his cherished comics on the top shelf, and opened it.

"Please don't tell me they're gonna make you do what I think they are…" Lincoln groaned. He watched the auburn haired sister go through them all, taking her time until she finally found one specific comic.

"This is one of Lincoln's most favorite comics! Go ahead and try to destroy it, if you can." Lynn told Lincada while handing the comic over.

"Overwatch?" Lincada stared at it and the title. The comic looked quite old, but there was an unforgettable charm that warmed even her heart just to be holding it, even if she did not like comics.

"Wait, what?!" Lincoln hopped over the bed, grabbing his doppelganger's wrists, "Lincada! Don't even think about it!"

"Calm down, you can buy another," Lincada rolled her eyes, shoulder bumping the ethereal boy away. Lincoln had no chance to argue, watching her rip the comic in half without any hesitation and to make sure they believed her. The teenage girl ripped it over and over again.

"Uhh… wow… you really did that," Lynn said with an awkward cough. Lincoln was steaming now.

"I take it back. Being ethereal sucks! There is nothing cool about this! It's horrible! Take me back! I wanna be me again!" The white haired boy rambled, his technical twin laughing a little.

"Oof!" Lincada gasped as Lincoln forcibly took his body back. She was sitting on the floor, surprised that he could do that, in the process he had accidentally knocked himself over to the floor.

"Lincoln, are you okay?!" Lori ran to her brother who lay on the floor.

"Nope… not at all… But that's nothing new…" Lincoln sighed, looking at the torn bits of comic in his hands. It was one of his first ever comics that had gotten him into really liking the media type more.

"So how'd you all like Lincada?" Lincoln tried to focus back on the conversation instead of the sentimental loss. His sisters took a minute to think on that, they had to absorb the fact that there really was someone else around them, that they could not see. It was all weird to them, even if Lucy exclaimed her ability to communicate with the deceased spirits, she supposedly saw nothing.

"I… guess she's nice," Lucy spoke up. She, Lynn and Lori mainly believed it because of how fast the individual possessing their brother ripped up one of his most valuable possessions without a half second of doubt, they saw him picking up his stuffed animal from his bed.

"Guess this explains your deal with talking to yourself…?" Lori quirked. Lincoln hugged his stuffed animal Bun-bun the Rabbit, a cherished hand-me-down he received when he was younger. He was trying to give himself some form of comfort right now, but to no real success. It was not going to be his for much longer, Lincoln having plans in mind for the special toy.

"Well, uhhh… welcome to the family Lincada?" Lynn spoke up, Lincada directly behind her with a smile from being acknowledged of her existence. Whether they believed it or were humoring their brother was questionable.

"Come on, you guys. Let's just enjoy our vacation while we can," Lincoln insisted they all go get late dinner and rest up. Even if the vacation was forced, the young boy wanted to go one day during this vacation where he was not pressed to do mafia work with his family.

"Alright. I'm starved," Lynn agreed gladly.

"The sooner I can sleep the better," Lori laughed, thinking it would be best to build up their energy while they had the chance.

"Come on. Mom has leftovers in the fridge," Lucy informed them, the three sisters heading downstairs ahead of their only brother.

"Are you okay, Lincoln?" Lincada noticed her stationary male half holding his stuffed animal to his cheek, nuzzling it slightly, she noticed the tears streaming down his face, some going onto the stuffed rabbit. The young boy had allowed the stress to overwhelm his emotions, despite his best efforts.

"I can't take much more…"


	45. A Loud House Divided

**Authors Note: Once again, sorry for all these notes. I know they become grating, but I just wanted to say with this chapter we're more or less at the 50% point of the story. And this is a chapter I've been looking forward to creating for a very long time, please let me know what you think of it!**

Three days had passed since they had saved Danny and Jackson's lives, the two had been grateful, but seemingly vanished after they heard the initial news, promising to reappear soon. Currently Lincoln was sat on the side of the bathtub, holding one of the syringes filled with the Jianko regenerative formula. He had been following the exact instructions Jayzo had given them so far. Ronnie Anne had been doing the medicine at the same time as her boyfriend, once in the morning and once before bed.

"You know, you can administer the medicine a lot faster if you inject it instead of staring at it," Lincada lay in the bathtub. They had been locked in the bathroom fifteen minutes now. Every morning this happened, her male twin would just stare blankly at the medicine instead of just taking it, like he was afraid of shots.

"Sorry… sorry," Lincoln apologized while sticking the needle into his arm, injecting the yellow liquid into it, the medicine felt like it was burning his veins, but the sensation faded fast thankfully. Once done, he pulled the syringe out and pocketed it. He normally put the empty syringes back into the case, since anyone could accidentally find it in the trash can, and he did not want to harm his pets or any wildlife by dumping it outside.

"I'm looking a lot better at least," Lincoln claimed while going to the mirror above the sink. His face had barely any bruises left, and the gashes on his arm were a lot smaller now, almost halfway gone.

"Good, bro! Now are you also feeling a lot better?" Lincada vanished from the bathtub and reappeared in front of him, sitting on the sink as if to block the constant gaze he had on his reflection in the mirror, though looking at his practical twin was close enough to one.

"You haven't been the same since the other day."

"I haven't?" Lincoln tilted his head slightly in confusion. He was beginning to leave the bathroom. Lincada groaned, aware that he was moving around so much to try and avoid the interrogation. He noticed her floating beside him to their room. The young boy had found sharing his bed awkward, but it was not the first time either so he got used to it fast.

"Don't pretend you haven't noticed! You cried into that rabbit for an hour straight, and refused to leave your room for the night! You woke up four times during the night, and what did you do? Cry into that rabbit until you fell asleep again!" Lincada angrily replied, while reminding him of last nights events more thoroughly. When they arrived to his room, she saw him pick up his stuffed rabbit Bun-bun.

"You imagined that," Lincoln replied with a calm smile, while heading toward the younger kids' rooms.

"I can't imagine that! I am your imagination!... I think. Come on, you moron! You've said it so many times that you'll tell everyone the truth from now on… and what did you do? You've lied to anyone who's asked if you were okay this morning!" Lincada drilled into him in full on anger.

"I didn't lie! I told everyone I was alright… and I am! It's okay to cry sometimes," Lincoln stated the most basic of lessons he had been taught from his father when he was around five years old. Lincada was unsure whether it was worth arguing with him any further, he would double down and not budge from the argument, so she backed off of him since they were all stressed out enough.

"What are we doing in here anyway? Lily is asleep," Lincada chirped as they arrived to the room. Nearly everyone in the house was out and about together or doing their own thing, and only Lincoln and Lynn were at home to take care of their infant sibling.

"I decided to give Lily her first hand-me-down," Lincoln answered while they stepped beside the crib. Lily laid on her back within it, sleeping soundly, the littlest loud was back in her chinchilla costume that she adored. The young white haired boy gently rested Bun-bun beside her, and then stroked her head, being careful to not awaken her.

"You're letting go of Bun-bun?" Lincada was surprised.

"Yeah… Bun-bun's helped me with a lot of hard times and helped me sleep a lot of nights… but… With half of our family stressed out, I think Bun-bun can help Lily a lot more than me," Lincoln confessed that it was a point of his life where he no longer was able to rely on a doll for emotional help, and he was willing to pass it down to Lily from this point forward. Just like the practical family tradition, where everyone handed down their items to the younger members of the family.

"That's really sweet," Lincada said, but could tell the constant threat of death had also played a hand into the decision.

"Hey Lincoln, you busy?" Lynn called out while heading for the stairs. Her younger brother came out, deciding to follow. Whenever someone asked if he was busy, it always meant they needed help.

"Not really. Me and Lincada were just checking up on Lily. What's up?" Lincoln asked while they made their way downstairs.

"Welllll… I need to talk with you… It's about Lucy," Lynn explained. At the moment their gothic sibling was out with Lori to run a list of errands. Lincoln looked to Lincada, wondering what was wrong, but the auburn haired girl looked very uncomfortable with the topic. The boy knew this was going to be another long day ahead, he wondered how everyone else was doing so far today.

"I thought you said this place was too expensive for you…" Lola groaned, as she carried two heavy bags in her hands. Lisa had her own bag full of various chemicals for her new experiment that was meant to be a surprise to her family, and a gift for Lincoln on his birthday.

"It is! But I needed these and there was no other place that had them," Leni explained happily. They were at the new mall, The Golden Bricks, which was only opened recently a few days ago. Here she had looked for the fabrics she needed for a new dress she was trying to make, but no one had it in stock or claimed it was too pricy for their store and would refuse to order it in.

"I just wish you didn't bring us along to act as carriers for this," Lisa sighed in slight irritation as one bag from Leni got handed to her.

"I'll make up for it," Leni giggled. Suddenly, she felt someone bump into her that accidentally knocked her over into Lola and Lisa, and they toppled into one pile, Leni beginning to realize people bumped into her a lot lately.

"Oh, well pardon me ma'am, I reckon I wasn't paying attention," a Texan voice spoke up. Leni was holding her head, her sunglasses crooked. The long blonde haired girl saw a metallic hand covered in rings, offering to help her up.

"It's fine, don't worry," Leni let the man help her up as she fixed her sunglasses back on her head. Lola was a bit concerned. She did not know this man, but she recognized the similar styled topaz machinery rings, they were like the ones Maddison wore when they met at the park.

"Well what's this now?" Jayzo reached down and picked up the linen fabric that had fallen out of Leni's bags. Lisa was making sure the items she had bought were unharmed. Lola was somewhat timid towards this man.

"That's Linen, silly! I'm using it to make a new dress," Leni happily explained. She was quite eager to get it made. She had taken a week to even gather everything, and for a fair price. She wanted to put that book of fashion design Lincoln got her to further use too.

"A fashion designer, eh? Ain't that nice," Jayzo commented before looking down at Lola.

"An' this here little pretty cricket dressed like a princess must be your model?" the augmented man had this oddly too happy aura around him, despite the bright smile and the perfectly white teeth. Lisa was the only one really seeing through this kind act of his. He was too nice and clearly feigning interest. But the child prodigy was glad to let her siblings have their ego rubbed if it brightened their day further.

"Model?" Lola gasped, as if that word washed her mind out of that worry and suspicion.

"Hahah… no, I mainly make clothes for myself… it's kind of like a hobby, but my sisters sometimes borrow them. They always tell me they're great though… If I do become a fashion designer, it'll be to make others happy with my clothes!" Leni explained further. She would love to get into fashion design further in the world. The blonde girl however still had to do a lot of work to get to college in the first place.

"I'd love to be a fashion model!" Lola gleefully exclaimed. Lisa felt like something was wrong here.

"Really? …Huh… maybe fate sent me to this little part of town for a reason," the metallic limbed man claimed, tapping his fingers together, resulting in a clanking noise. "How about we go have coffee and a small chat? I lost a good few workers recently and need replacements… And frankly, you two look perfect to fill in for some of them."

Leni and Lola just stared, unsure how to respond, being shocked with this offer for what was practically their dream jobs. Jayzo crouched down to Lisa's height, seeing her fix her glasses slightly. "Howdy, little missy… uhh, are they gonna be okay?"

"Yes… this happens sometimes, to most of our family really. I believe It's due to an overwhelming sudden burst of dopamine from their ventral tegmental area of the mid-brain, as well as the hypothalamus resulting in a form of highness that paralyzes them momentarily," Lisa reassured. They would be squealing in delight any second now.

"My, you must have quite the IQ… I could use a good researcher to help the boys in the labs. You up for it?" Jayzo smirked as he extended another form of offer to Lisa. The child prodigy scratched her chin, thinking on this for a moment.

"Hmmm… I suppose I can spare some time to let my auditory receptors hear your offer," Lisa agreed, and the other two Loud girls' high pitched squeals of joy pierced her and Jayzo's eardrums.

"Suppose that there's an agreement all around."

The bright sign, 'Oh me, oh my, oh ha ha ha,' glowed outside of the comedy club at another part of Royal Woods. Inside, the lights were turned down slightly, and most of the audience was focused on the current person on stage.

"Boy… Luan isn't doing too hot up there…" Luna mumbled, watching her sister on stage. It was the usual place for Luan to perform at this comedy club, but today just did not seem like her day.

"I think she forgot her entire show plan…" Lana added. The two came to support their comedian sister. The jokes that had gotten through in memory did get a lot of laughs, but sadly they weren't doing the best job at covering up the dozens of blunders. Unfortunately that bump Luan had received yesterday gave her a short memory loss, and all she had prepared for today was lost, and she could not remember it all in time for the big show.

"Well, thank you for coming on Luan," the host of the comedy club thanked Luan for her time, having cut her short of her performance.

"Thanks for having me, Mister Ross," Luan thanked him for just allowing her to perform here. She walked off behind the curtains after the crowd gave a half hearted applause. Luna and Lana got up, going off to go meet their sister in the back to make sure she was alright, but also tried to cheer her up if she needed it.

"Luan?" Luna called out while they wandered behind the stage, and here they found Luan and someone talking.

"What's going on?" Lana asked as they approached. The man turned around, his spiky hair and the dozens of flower emerald rings on his hands prominently sticking out, but what was more eye drawing was the joint he was smoking at the moment.

"Ah, these must be your sisters you told me of… Are they comedians too?" He questioned Luan. Already Luna hated this man, mainly because she did not think it was a good idea to use any substances to get some form of joy, to her it was pathetic to see anyone using the stuff.

"Uh… no, they aren't, Mister Cenvary…"

"Please love, call me Lazzerson. It's nice to meet you all nonetheless," Lazzerson introduced himself to the two loud siblings. The rock loving sibling grabbed Luan's hand.

"C'mon you two, let's go," Luna ordered, but Luan would not move, confusing her sisters. Lana was not feeling too safe around this man either.

"Hang on, Luna! Lazzerson is a talent scout and he liked my performance," Luan explained. She hated the smell of the burning marijuana too, but hearing this man's appearance was a shocking thing, the fact he liked the butchery of a comedy act out there was more surprising.

"You're serious? This guy? He doesn't look like he could walk straight," Luna retorted, not believing for one second that this guy was a scout for talent agencies.

"If you're judging me for what I smoke, I'll have you know it's for medicinal purposes," Lazzerson claimed with a smile and stretched, "But yes. I am technically a talent scout. More so over, I'm recently starting my own talent agency, so to speak. The main reason I like Luan here is because she had heart on stage and not a script. And to sum up, I'd like to go somewhere to interview her if you'd please."

"I don't think you should go anywhere with him, Luan…" Luna stood in front of their brown haired sister, Lazzerson laughing a little at how hostile the girl with the accent was.

"You can come too loves, if you got any talents of ya own. I might be able to let ya tag up with her… but I'll make myself suffer a little if it'll get ya to trust me more," the flower ringed mafia leader took the joint out of his mouth and dropped it on the floor, stomping it out. Luna guessed it was alright if they all went together, but she did not drop her guard.

"Fine, but if one thing is shady, we're leaving," Luna declared. Luan had a smile, glad to know her sisters were looking out for her.

"Of course. Come on, I know a nice place for ice cream just down the road. It's on me, of course."


	46. Side Effects

"Okay, Lynn. It was funny the first three times, but come on, it really isn't anymore on the fifth…" Lincoln chimed while in the kitchen, washing dishes. Lincada had vanished when it began, mainly because she felt too confused to be a part of the conversation.

"I'm not joking Lincoln! Why would I joke about this?!" Lynn asked while emptying the vacuum cleaner dust trap into the trash can. The two were trying to do minor chores for their family since they all were out. They expected their father to be back early from work. Their mother on the other hand might have a late night due to a change in office hours and co-workers suddenly getting sick.

"I dunno, but it really isn't funny. You said you wanted to talk with me about Lucy, so can we please stop joking around?" Lincoln requested. She felt like he was in a heavy state of denial. The white haired boy finished the last of the dishes and let them dry in the dish drainer. He turned around to the serious-looking Lynn standing here.

"…Are you okay?" Lynn asked, despite her anger.

"What do you mean? I feel better than ever," Lincoln insisted that his injuries were recovering. She was happy to see him happy and recovering at a grand rate, but when she put her hand to his forehead, he felt hot. The white haired boy had a fever that he did not even feel himself.

"You have a fever. Look, grab an ice pack and listen to me again, because you need to hear me out, if this gets any worse... I don't think it will be good for Lucy or you," Lynn requested. Lincoln wanted to decline, thinking she would tell the same joke again, but he could tell how serious she was now, which concerned him.

"Alright, alright…" Lincoln went to the refrigerator, opening the freezer door and reaching inside where one of several ice bags were filled. They were premade in case of one family member needing one immediately. Their father's idea for the always be prepared motto usually worked. The young boy held the bag to his forehead, starting to feel the fever himself now. He took a seat at the adult's table with Lynn, ready to listen.

"Guess Lincada being scared off by this is a bad sign," Lincoln thought, wondering where his female counterpart had gone, or if she had a range limit of some kind. He never thought he would need a list of practical ghost rules, but here he was at that point in life where he did need that.

"Try and go into more detail for me. Now what's the problem with Lucy?" Lincoln asked. Lynn looked annoyed as she told him multiple times already, but he kept thinking of it as a joke.

"She has a crush on you, and she's had one for a while," Lynn repeated. Lincoln froze and stared.

"You're serious aren't you…?" He buried his face into his hands.

"She's serious, isn't she?" Lincada sat beside him, having once again appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes, she's serious," Lincoln could tell by Lynn's face.

"Sorry I haven't told you sooner Lincoln. I was sworn to secrecy under some creepy dark oath," Lynn stated. Lucy tried to get her to have a vow of silence before even telling her what had been going on lately within her heart, "Upside is, she made me swear before telling me everything so that made it null and void... As far as I care, anyway."

"So… what do you want me to do about it? It's probably just a phase," Lincoln asked while tossing the ice pack behind him into the sink, though he was aware of why Lynn was telling him before anyone else. If their parents heard Lucy loved him a lot more than just a brother, then disaster would come from it in an unknown form.

"Lincoln, this has been going on for months. When she learned that you were still with Ronnie Anne, she was so upset… she's having trouble getting over you," Lynn explained. She guessed the regret of feeling too slow to inform the one Lucy loved of her true feelings was adding onto her personal guilt. Lincoln hit his head on the table. Just another reminder that nothing was normal in his life anymore.

"Doesn't help that you have another sister crushing on you too," Lincada chimed up, her male twin looking to her.

"Please tell me you don't love me," Lincoln begged. He could not survive if he had her haunting him with a constant desire for love of her twin.

"Moron, look ahead again," the long white haired girl put her hand on her brother's head, making him look ahead to see Lynn looking away awkwardly with a light blush, as if she was too nervous to make eye contact now.

"You too?! Lynn…" Lincoln groaned in realization. Lynn was sharing similar feelings toward her only brother as well. The close age did not make that any better. He was terrified to know he had not one, but two sisters in love with him.

"Ca-calm down, Lincoln, I'm over it… nearly. Don't worry about me. I just wanted you to know so you could handle it somehow," Lynn apologized for not being able to control her feelings. She was getting over it a lot easier than Lucy had been.

"I'll handle this… don't worry," Lincoln reassured that it would be resolved gently. He hated imagining that he may wind up breaking Lucy's heart, but that was another problem they had to deal with if it occurred. His phone suddenly began to ring. He pulled it out and saw the caller.

"Looks like our vacation might be over," Lincoln informed his sister. Lynn looked disappointed, but understood that they should be thankful for the time they did have to recover and relax. Lincada seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

"Hello, boss," Lincoln answered, heading for the living room, until he suddenly collapsed and fell flat on his face.

"Mister Loud? Hello?" Nora replied, having heard the loud thud.

"Lincoln! Are you okay?" Lynn came over to help him back onto his feet. Her only brother nodded while holding his head.

"Ye-yeah… sorry. Just forgot how to walk for a second there," Lincoln brushed it off jokingly, before he resumed going to the other room to continue the conversation privately. He had to talk to Nora about something, "Sorry boss. Are the bombs dealt with?"

"Yes Mister Loud. We have the bombs removed. There are several problems, though. To begin, we can't trace them back to Jayzo or Lazzerson. That means a third party has been involved. What's worse is during the transport of the ten bombs to a disposal area, five of them went missing," Nora elaborated on everything that had occurred as of late with the explosive devices. It was very concerning and left many pieces of this confusing puzzle missing.

"They vanished? How can bombs vanish?!" Lincoln was unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Mister Loud, I am more perplexed than you are. I oversaw everything myself. It is more frustrating than you imagine. What is more interesting, however, is that two topaz machinery members came to our base during the bomb removal, you leaving me that message of where our groups police officers went, is just as confusing." Nora stated. The white haired boy felt a chill filled fear make the imaginary hairs on his arm stand up.

"Da-danny and Jackson…? I sort of saved their lives and got to meet Jayzo in person," Lincoln explained. His boss seemed to be mixed, unable to tell if she was upset or not.

"You met him in person… and got these two morons to attempt to join us?" she asked. The young boy did not let go of his stance on matters. He, Lori and his girlfriend had all participated in this event. He swore he could hear the liquor bottle Nora had been drinking from hitting the desk hard.

"…Mister Loud, you are always somehow going out of your way to try and impress me. These two have been giving us nothing but information since they joined, and every last drop of credit goes to you," Nora applauded. Lincoln felt great to hear so much praise from one he feared.

"Th-thank you, boss… I'm hoping one day things can go back to the way they used to be when Poima was in charge," Lincoln stated. Nora took in a deep breath, exhaling in irritation at the memories of her mother.

"Well you've more than earned a favor from me. If there is anything you want to request, inform me, and I'll see it is done. Do not forget to report for work tomorrow," his boss informed him. She was about to hang up, but he caught her.

"Just a second! I already know what to spend the favor on…" Lincoln called out, getting her attention once more.

"Well… I suppose I should not have even asked. Of course you'll use this favor to obviously reduce your debt. Well, I suppose you've earned…"

"No, I mean… yeah, that'd be nice to be rewarded for my work, by losing a chunk of my debt. But I need you to dig up as much information on my parents as you can. What you said has really been getting to me, y'know. I want to put my trust in them, but lately I'm afraid of everyone without ruby animal rings on," Lincoln explained what he needed, Lincada sitting nearby with a shocked expression.

"Mister Loud, I know what I said was harsh, and as much as your family is doing great work for me, I must wonder if you are really going to waste a personal favor from me on something so trivial," Nora wanted to be sure she did not mishear him. It was stupid for him to waste a chance to rid himself of part of his million dollar debt, on other family members that were not even involved with them slightly.

"Are you trying to find out more about me? Lincoln, I don't want you wasting your time on me! Forget about me, mommy and daddy!" Lincada insisted. Her male twin looked at her with a smirk.

"So you are keeping something from me. Yes, Nora I'm sure about my decision. I'll see you tomorrow," Lincoln hung up his phone, pocketing it before he turned to where his female doppelganger was, but she had vanished again.

"Don't hide from me, Lincada. I know you're hiding the truth. You're the one who called me a hypocrite this morning," Lincoln lightly laughed, finding it slightly funny how the situation became like this. He saw his female counterpart standing before him after reappearing.

"So the drugs aren't why you exist at all. I never had a choice in what you were… because you already are someone of your own," Lincoln spoke, sternly. Having begun to realize the drugs he had taken were long since gone from his system, and this was very calm and passive for losing his mind.

"I'm not…"

"If there's one thing I learnt, insanity has consistency. You, on the other hand, act like a normal person. Lucy can't see you, so you're not a ghost, but you're able to read my thoughts, yet you're not in my head. You've been lying to me this whole time, haven't you?" Lincoln began his theory very angrily. Lincada was not responding to him, looking upset, "Either you tell me now or I go confront mom and dad about it once I learn what it is."

"I-I…I need to go…" Lincada was gone. Lincoln shook his head, mentally apologizing to his parents for the horrible confrontation that would inevitably occur. At least now he knew he was never insane to begin with.

"Why do I feel like I'm on fire?" Lincoln suddenly wondered. His fever was back at full force. He groaned thinking it must be a side effect of the Jianko regenerative formula, except now his entire body felt like it was being burnt from the inside out. No amount of time in the summer heat could match this feeling.

"Lynn! I need help!"


	47. Overheated

Early in the afternoon, the father of the Louds was home and resting on the couch. Though he had barely been there, he noticed how quiet things were. It was strange, even if the home only was supposed to have three members within it for most of the day.

"Lincoln? Lynn! Are you home?" Mister Loud called out while making his way for the stairs. There was no response to his call, so he had to wonder if the others had gone out, but that became less believable when he passed by the younger Loud member's room.

"Aw… hey there, Lily. You have a good day, sweetheart?" Mister Loud saw Lily playing in her crib with Bun-bun. He wondered why she had it, but he did not attempt to take it. He picked up Lily, the infant giggling happy to see her father.

"Do you know where your brother and sister went?" he jokingly asked his youngest daughter while tickling her neck. Every time she laughed felt like a reward to him. To know his children were happy and healthy were the most important to him.

"This is ridiculous Lincoln!" Lynn's voice rung out. Mister Loud heard it come from the bathroom, the door was wide open.

"Sorry, it was the best idea I had. Maybe I need to go to the hospital," Lincoln laughed. His slightly older sister was angry at how carefree he was on the matter.

"Kids, is everything okay? …what is going on here?" Mister Loud saw Lincoln lying in the bathtub that was filled with ice up to his neck, his body covered. It was the only idea he had to try and stop the fever immediately, Lynn having worked hard to make sure her brother was okay.

"Oh, hey dad," Lincoln welcomed their father home.

"Lincoln had this bad fever and the icepacks weren't working," Lynn answered their father. Lincoln leaned back. The practical fire he felt inside of his body was fading away slowly, but he wished it would go away a lot faster than it really was.

"Alright, Lynn. I'll handle it from here. Thanks for doing most of the hard work," Mister Loud thanked her.

"It was nothing," Lynn replied while taking Lily, noticing her brother's cherished doll in her arms. She wasn't going to bother her brother over it for now. She left the bathroom with her baby sister.

"Oh… looks like someone else is home," Lynn heard the sound of the door open, followed by chatter. Lily was sucking on her thumb with Bun-bun in her other arm.

"…I can't believe this! An actual contract with a record company thanks to that weirdo! I can't believe it!"

"Did you see all those animals in need of caretakers? I'd love to help with that! Those reptiles, too!"

"Every joke I told was funny to him! He didn't even groan at the puns! I can't believe it, we're starting to become famous!"

"What is going on…?" Lynn asked Lily. The baby cooed in reply. They both could hear their talking, and it all sounded so full of energy. Lynn began to make her way to the living room where she noticed a mortified Lori and Lucy, and three other sisters.

"Welcome back guys! How did your days… No way…" Lynn felt her heart sink. Luna, Luan and Lana all had a new ring on their hands, with flowers and emeralds in them. Lynn looked at Lori and Lucy, and the two exchanged terrified looks to her. Just then, they heard the door open and saw a very giddy Leni enter with Lola and Lisa behind her.

"Everyone! You won't believe it! I was hired to be a fashion designer!" Leni informed everyone.

"I'm going to become a model!" Lola tackled Lana into a tight hug.

"I'm not really looking forward to spending a lot more time in someone else's lab." Lisa stated. They could see the topaz machinery rings on their hands. Everyone was trying to talk at once over the overwhelming great news today that happened to them all. Lori, Lucy and Lynn however were terrified, with this and of how Lincoln would react to all this.

"…how did this happen…?!" Lynn squeaked.

"We don't know…!" Lori shook her head, she wondered if her boyfriend and Ronnie Anne were alright.

"Wha-what is going on…?" Ronnie Anne shivered. She was at home, bundled in several blankets and freezing cold. Bobby entered the room, carrying a thermometer and soup.

"Maybe you got a cold?" Bobby put the thermometer in his little sister's mouth. He was doing his best to take care of her, but this had happened so suddenly it was weird. One minute she was fine and giving him his usual scowling. The next minute he found her collapsed on the floor, curled up and claiming to be frozen from the inside out.

"Sorry if I haven't had time for you lately. Lori's pregnancy really has me excited… terrified but excited," Bobby apologized. Ronnie Anne couldn't respond yet and just waited for the thermometer to finish. Finally it got her temperature. He pulled it out of her mouth to view it.

"You don't have a fever," he mumbled confusedly.

"I-I don't ca-care about what you spend yo-your time doing…" Ronnie Anne was happy her brother was going to be a father, but frankly she had no care at all, because all of the excited talk about the new baby and what to call it was frustrating and drove her nearly insane.

"Sorry… I'm glad you're dating Lincoln again though. It's nice to know you have someone watching out for you when I can't," Bobby stated. He was not able to figure out what was causing his sister's current symptoms, and the blankets he had given her were barely helping, nor did his idea of helping her outside to try and take in the warm summer sun.

"Ye-yeah, yeah… we-we've really gotten along great lately…" Ronnie Anne exhaled in irritation. Hearing her boyfriend's name made her wonder how he was doing. The chills and the temporary loss of movement had occurred a few minutes after she had taken her morning dose of the Jianko regenerative formula, it was concerning.

"I hope he's doing okay…" Ronnie Anne thought as she tried to relax. The regenerative medicine had done a lot for her. Nearly all of her injuries were gone now, aside from a few scrapes and nasty bruises that were still healing. The Santiago girl realized she had not checked her phone in a while, and decided to pull it out to check. One new message was shown for her.

"We're going back to work tomorrow. Nora is really happy with Danny and Jackson joining. – Lincoln"

"…guess that's good news," Ronnie Anne smiled, feeling great to know they had gotten those two guys lives saved.

"Ronnie Anne! I gotta head out," Bobby said while trying to find his keys in some kind of panic.

"Is something wrong?" Ronnie Anne wondered, turning her head to him.

"No, not really. Just forgot I had work today… again," Bobby coughed, trying not to sound too ashamed of himself. It was a common occurrence of him forgetting when to be at work. It was not his day off, and by the time he arrived, he will inevitably get a punishment from his boss, but they were lenient with him otherwise at all of his jobs.

"Jeez… I'll see you later…" Ronnie Anne bid her brother goodbye.

"Take it easy!" She heard him tell her before the sound of the front door shut behind him rung out. The young girl hit the phone icon by her boyfriend's text message, waiting on the ringing for him to answer.

"This is Lincoln Loud. Try to call me later or you can leave a message after the beep," the cellphone's answering machine picked up after a long session of ringing. Ronnie Anne quirked an eyebrow. Her boyfriend rarely ignored phone calls, especially from her. It was a bad sign that something might be up.

"Hey, Lincoln. I'm just calling to check up on you. I think the medicine's causing side effects, I feel like I was locked in a freezer for a week. Call me back when you can," Ronnie Anne left her message before resting her phone aside. It just might be her last day of rest before returning to work tomorrow, she hoped these symptoms would go away by then.

"Why do I suddenly feel like there's a catastrophe going on?" Ronnie Anne asked herself confusedly. It was a feeling she had occasionally out of nowhere, it was an unexpected coincidence that she had gotten this paranoiac sense shortly after beginning to date her boyfriend. She was going to keep her guard up until the feeling passed.

"So… do we call this our first emergency mafia sub-group gathering?" Lynn was back in the bathroom with Lori and Lucy, Lincoln still being in the ice filled bathtub.

"We're not criminals, Lynn. We're just workers! We should be taking this a lot more seriously! Our entire family is involved now that they met Lazzerson and Jayzo!" Lori reiterated with terror in her voice. When she had first realized what was going on, she almost had a heart attack.

"Maybe we should've recruited them to Nora since we're helping Lincoln…" Lucy mumbled while sitting on an overturned laundry basket. Their brother had not moved an inch, and his eyes were closed. Either he was enjoying the cooling ice a lot or something was wrong, he was acting too calm about this.

"Hey, I'm the one supposed to make bad suggestions," Lincoln informed Lucy with that calm smirk of his. His sisters were surprised, believing he would be in a panic twenty times worse than them about this.

"Lincoln, aren't you worried? Everyone could die! They're going in a lot blinder than we did…" Lynn said. Lincoln, with a groan, sat up climbing out of the bathtub of ice, shaking the last few pieces out of his clothes.

"Of course I'm worried… but remember? The rings take twenty-four hours to merge with your flesh. For once I have an actual good plan," Lincoln hummed happily, going over to the medicine cabinet, rummaging through the packed shelves.

"How does that help? Are you saying we should just steal them?" Lucy asked before a pill bottle bounced off her head, and she caught in her hands. Once again, her obscured vision made her miss what should have been easy to catch.

"Yep. That's dad's sleeping medicine, so let's slip it into their dinners and start stealing rings once they fall asleep. No, I don't care what you do with the rings. Stuff them all in the garbage disposal if you want," Lincoln explained his plan. He felt bad to have to use any form of drug on his siblings, but whatever made things easier for them was better. The young boy looked down at his ruby black widow and bee rings, feeling confident for once.

"You want us to drug them?!" Lori gawked. What had become of their brother to suggest doing this without hesitation, she wondered.

"Only a little," Lincoln could feel his body trying to heat up again. He was trying to keep calm and not get worked up for an incoming argument.

"This is a bad idea, Lincoln!" Lynn tried to rebut him, "There's gotta be another way!"

"What else do you think we should do? Tell them what we're doing and why they shouldn't wear the rings, and then they'll run to mom and dad over this and tell them, too?" Lincoln paused for a second, "Lynn, this is the sneakiest way! Plus, it'll make things go a lot smoother for us if we steal the rings and hope they think it was just a dream."

"What does Lincada think we should do?" Lori hoped this other person in their family could talk more sense into Lincoln. He rolled his eyes, not seeing his female counterpart appear anywhere for him since their earlier confrontation.

"I dunno. She hasn't reappeared in a while. Guess I was close to finding out something," Lincoln stretched. His three sisters wanted to argue more, but he clapped his hands together.

"So let's go over this. We drug them, so they go into a deep sleep, and then we take the rings off while they sleep and make them vanish. We'll make sure Jayzo and Lazzerson don't go near them again. After all, they're breaking the rule of targeting people at home by targeting our family."

"I'm not doing it," Lori refused.

"Lori's right. We need a better plan," Lynn glared.

"Do you have a better plan?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow. All the sisters were thinking the same thing, this wasn't their brother, at the moment he was thinking like some criminal trying to find the easiest way out of trouble. Their brother swore to not let corruption get him from the start as well, it made them more and more concerned every time he talked like this.

"No, but like you said, we have twenty-four hours to come up with one, and…"

"Lucy's my girl. I can rely on you to do this right, my favorite little vampire?" Lincoln put his hands on his gothic sister's shoulders. Lucy looked at his face. She knew it was a horrible thing to do, but thinking if it helped them keep this secret from their sisters then it was worth it. Her pale cheeks began to blush light red blush, she nodded.

"Ye-yes, master…" Lucy nodded.

"Thank you… but please, call me anything but that," Lincoln begged.

"Lincoln, why…?" Lynn mentally asked herself. She was angry with her only brother for purposely using Lucy's feelings for him to manipulate her into working with his plan specifically.

"Come on. Just try to relax, you guys. We got work tomorrow. …and we should clear out of the bathroom before someone realizes all four of us are in here at the same time behind a locked door," Lincoln stated. They silently agreed, listening to their brother's orders, resuming their normal routines today. Lori had a hand on her stomach, looking down.

"Are you feeling alright?" Lynn asked the oldest loud sister, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah… just thinking about their future, all of our futures really..." Lori claimed. There was nothing Lynn could say on this matter, even beyond her worry of the unborn child being affected by all this stress. Lucy felt slightly bad for what she was going to do in the next couple hours, but if it was for the good of their family then she would do it.

"Why was Lincoln acting so different?" Lori quirked, "He was being a huge jerk in there…"

"If it's not the fever messing with his brain, then I don't know…" Lynn said. It was obvious how much the heat could affect his personality. The two saw no sign of Lucy. She had vanished once again in her usual fashion, as if waiting for the first person to drop their guard and receive a good scare. Now Lincoln was downstairs, playing with Lola and Lana, laughing like things were normal in his life.

"This is going to be a rough night…"


	48. Ring Woes

**Authors Note: Hello readers, thanks again for the tons of support. I wanted to apologize for the last few chapters being so bad, I hope the upcoming ones are more to everyone's liking. Have a good day!**

Lincoln was in his room, looking at the silver case containing the Jianko regenerative formula. It was time for the second dose of the day, but he was afraid to do anything with it without thinking of the several side effects it might give him. The young boy was not realizing his somewhat evil constantly changing personality, it was creepy to say the least. Almost as if he was slowly becoming an immoral person.

"If I don't take it all, Jayzo might go after those two again…" Lincoln murmured in reminder while staring at the syringe in his hand. It was an agreement that the young boy had made, and he planned to see the commitment through.

"Lincoln?" he heard the voices of Lola and Lana. He saw them standing in his doorway, having caught him with the drug-filled syringe in his hand.

"…I had my door locked for a reason, you know," Lincoln's own daydreaming and hesitation had got him caught here. He did not even hear the several knocks on his door, his sisters wondered why he was sounding so sarcastic and hateful to them.

"And we unlocked it for a reason," Lana retorted while the twins stepped inside and closed the door behind them. They had come in here to talk to their brother personally after all. They were concerned for him since he had been acting strange, and refused to have dinner.

"Sorry. If it makes you feel better this is healing medicine," Lincoln injected himself with the medicine again, giving up on hiding it from them. Once the Jianko regenerative formula had been injected for the second time today, he pocketed the empty syringe.

"We came to talk with you about these rings. You said that Maddison woman was your partner and she had all those rings on. Does that mean we'll be helping you, too?" Lola was nervous. It had taken some time but the twins had eventually remembered the events from a few days ago with the mad batter

"…You both realized that you weren't going to do what you agreed to do," Lincoln guessed. The two had been at the park with him and probably had the first exposure to any clues about his mafia lifestyle.

"Lisa acted so uncomfortable around Jayzo. When we got home and tried to learn more about him, we found out something was wrong," Lola explained. The only information about Jayzo was online, and since he suppressed any bad media about himself, the only thing viewable to them was paranoid conspiracy theories that somewhat linked up to one another to make some creepy web of theories.

"…I'm sorry, they went after you all for some reason… I don't know why, but I guess it's because of me… but no you wouldn't be my coworkers if you join them. You'd be enemies," Lincoln informed the twins. Lola and Lana looked to each other, then down to the very rings on their hands.

"I understand if you hate me for keeping all this secret… but please take off those rings and hand them here, or else I'll take them off myself." Lincoln crouched down to their height. He could tell the two young girls had the same ideas in mind.

"Will you tell us everything then?" Lana said.

"And we mean everything. We've seen Lori, Lynn, and Lucy wearing rings like yours too," Lola seemed particularly infuriated with their older brother for all the secrecy and lies.

"I know a dummy like me keeping secrets is hard to believe but… I'll tell you," Lincoln nodded, watching the twins pull their rings off, Lola handing over her topaz machinery ring while Lana turning over her emerald flower ring. He took them both and tossed them into the silver case with the Jianko formula.

"Well, let's start from the beginning. It's kind of a long story…" Lincoln began to do the same thing he had done for his co-worker siblings, Ronnie Anne and Clyde, going through the long retelling of how he wound up in a mafia lifestyle, even as one of the supposed lower rank workers they had, Lincoln and the rest of the workers working equally as hard throughout Royal Woods on whatever job they were assigned to, while simultaneously warding off any attacks that are sent their way for whatever reason.

"…And that's it. You understand all of that? Or do I need to go back to the start again?" Lincoln finished the story, offering in a condescending tone to repeat it. Lola and Lana stared at him, wide eyed.

"It's good you understand, at least. I'm sorry to have kept it all so secret, but I wanted you all to be happy. My life is not worth much, but I'm trying my best to make others lives better," Lincoln closed the silver case back. Informing them of his multiple near death experiences was not his brightest move, but the twins did want to hear everything, and so he did as they requested.

"So you're… trying to kill yourself?" Lana looked ready to break down. Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

"Oh… the whole me not being worth much thing? No, I want to survive, but not for my sake. I'm just the one getting in the way. All I'm trying to do is make Royal Woods a better place for you all, to try and make up for everything you've all done for me, but… I guess no matter how hard you try, the dark monsters in the closet eventually find a way out," Lincoln lightly laughed. To his sisters, that joke wasn't funny and never would be.

"You're not acting like yourself, Lincoln…" Lola was fearful.

"That's because I'm losing it," Lincoln sighed. He was suddenly starting to sweat and burn up with a fever once again, yet this time didn't notice, "I spent most of last night crying because I feel like the worst person in the world. But hey, at least I'm doing so much more good for our family by being nothing but another money maker."

"Money doesn't mean anything to us! We want to help you…" Lana claimed. Their brother sat before them, leaned against his bed. Lincoln was told otherwise several times, but it did nothing to help how he felt. He felt their arms wrap around his neck.

"We'll make sure things are better and make your birthday the best!" Lola declared. Lincoln could only lightly sob as he put his arms around their backs. He doubted they would live up to that promise of making things better in less than four days. He suddenly began to feel looseness in his chest. He saw Lincada, who appeared again, standing out of his way as if to not gain his interrogative attentive.

"Lincoln?" They said suddenly feeling him go limp, only being held up by them.

"Oh no… hey, come on, this isn't a time to pass out. You need to look strong and let them know their brother is going to be fine…" Lincada called out to him. She presumed he had just passed out, and she saw the scared looks on the twins' faces.

"You owe me for this," Lincada forced herself into his body, exchanging places with Lincoln.

"I-I'm up I'm up!" Lincada pretended to be her male twin, toning down the stress as hard as it was. She saw Lincoln in the ethereal like state of being, sitting there and staring straight ahead with no response.

"Lincoln, maybe you need to go to bed early…" Lola suggested, feeling a lot better now that they saw Lincoln standing before them.

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, I'm on fire…" Lincada was mentally screaming. Everything was burning from her head to her toes, so much so that it was hard to keep her composure. She wished Lincoln would return to normal already. She had no idea how he tolerated this.

"Ye-yeah I probably should… I don't have my appetite anyway," Lincada coughed, trying to not let the tone change be too noticeable. Only Ronnie Anne, Lori, Lynn and Lucy knew about her thus far and it was up to Lincoln to inform the rest in due time at his own pace. However, Lincada was still greatly worried that he might find out the truth about her.

"If you want, we can sleep with you tonight if it will make you feel better," Lana offered.

"Thanks, you two, but I-I'll be fine. Charles will keep me company…" Lincada reassured. The twins were wondering if their only brother was getting sick. His voice sounded so weird now.

"Alright, well… goodnight. We love you," the twins bid him goodnight and left the room. Lincada let out a large sigh of relief. She closed the door back before going over to the ethereal Lincoln, whose mental appearance and status hadn't changed.

"Lincoln? Come on, bro! This isn't funny anymore! If you're trying to get me to talk, then I'm still not going to…" Lincada was getting frustrated, but she received no response. Her male counterpart did not even cast a look to her nor gave any reaction.

"Lincoln, please take your body back. It really is hot in it. Seriously, if neither of us are in your body, it won't be able to sustain itself long," Lincada requested. If neither of them were in control of the body, then the brain would have trouble keeping itself going, since these ethereal forms required a lot of subconscious focus.

"Earth to moron! Come on! If you don't take your body back right now, I'll go tell mom, dad and everyone else everything," Lincada threatened. Not even that made Lincoln move a muscle, her eye twitched.

"Okay, that's it!" She then grabbed him.

"Looks like Lucy did it…" Lori murmured. Leni was asleep on the couch, drooling somewhat. The eldest blonde sibling grabbed her hand and tried to pull off the topaz machinery ring.

"Grrr… come on, you stupid ring…!" Lori grunted, trying to get it off. The sleeping Leni fell over and on top of her pregnant sister. The hard tugging had yanked her off the couch.

"Maybe I'm just doing it wrong?" Lori scratched her head trying to think. The rings could not possibly have bonded with them yet, it had been maybe four hours at most there should be another twenty hours left.

"You need ketchup," Lisa's voice chimed up. Lori tilted her head back and saw her second youngest sister standing there in her pajamas.

"What?" Lori requested. Lisa showed her own topaz machinery ring in her hand. She had duct tape around her ring finger which had taken away any chance for her ring to merge with her flesh.

"These topaz rings are made of deltanium. It has been tampered with to quickly fasten and bond with flesh. Yet upon analysis, ketchup causes it to release its grasp on the skin tissue," Lisa elaborated. The oldest loud sibling would hug her if she wasn't pinned underneath the dreaming Leni.

"Can you help…?" Lori squeaked. She swore Leni got twice as heavy when sleeping. She was having trouble getting her younger sister off her.

"Maybe if you care to explain what's going on? Jayzo was too eager to hire under-aged workers and clearly you know something about him," Lisa declared. The intelligent young girl had noticed multiple siblings' strange behaviors lately, it really was just a matter of time before she connected the dots.

"Alright, alright, I'll talk…" Lori reluctantly agreed. Anything to let her go get the item she needed to get Leni's ring off.

"Okay, well… This isn't good," Lynn was worried already. She could not get Luna's ring to budge.

"Luan's is stuck too," Lucy had no regret for slipping their father's medicine into their sisters' food. She had already reiterated her reasons why when her sporty sister confronted her about it. Lucy's love for her brother had made her easy to manipulate like a marionette, yet she did not really feel that was the case.

"Uh… do you hear that?" Lynn chimed up. As the two stepped into the hallway, they heard the sound of bumping against the wall coming from Lincoln's room. The two girls both tried to listen.

"Get in! You come inside me right now! I said get inside me! Don't go limp! Come on! Seriously, why do we gotta do this the hard way?! And don't pretend you're too big to fit!"

"Is… is Clyde here or something?" Lynn looked to her gothic sibling. Both were shocked and had no words. Lucy knocked on the door, waiting for a response from their only brother.

"Busy! Go away!" Lincada shouted in her male twin's tone.

"If we don't get them to quiet down, mom and dad are gonna wake up…" Lucy informed her sister. Her sports loving sister groaned. The door was not locked anyway, so she grabbed the handle and opened it.

"Lincoln…?" Lynn saw their brother lying in the floor. He looked like he was wrestling an imaginary bear.

"No, it's Lincada," Lincada replied. Lincoln was stuck in his ethereal form, still not giving any response. She had tried to let him fall into his own body, but that did not help nor work at all. The white haired girl kicked the ghost boy off in annoyance, having tried to force him back into control several times.

"Oh, Lincada. Where's Lincoln?" Lucy questioned. Lincada stood up, upset.

"He's right there, but he won't move! He took that jianko stuff. A few minutes later, Lola and Lana gave him their rings, and then suddenly he passed out. I thought he was trying to get information from me, but he won't do anything…" Their technical sister claimed. They could tell how flustered she was.

"Why can't you just get out of his body? Won't he come back then?" Lynn suggested, still trying to get the creepy thoughts out of her head.

"No! If nothing inhabits the body for longer than five minutes, they lose the ability to breathe… the only reason I can do it is because of a ventil…er…" Lincada caught herself, rubbing her head sorely. She was about to faint from the constant heating sensation in her body.

"Just take it easy. I'm sure Lincoln'll snap out of it," Lynn added. Lucy wondered what Lincada meant, but decided to leave Lynn to handle this, the gothic going to make more effort at stealing rings. Lincada needed medical attention from that fever spiking again, so Lynn was going to focus on that.

"Everything is crazy lately…"


	49. A Rough Morning

Lori had told Lisa everything. The prodigy child was able to take things well and understand, though she did feel horrible for them all, especially Lincoln about this, and was ready to help in any way she could with their mafia troubles.

"Thank goodness…" Lori had gotten Leni's topaz machinery ring off with ease thanks to the dab of ketchup that Lisa recommended. The pregnant loud member felt so much happier to know they had a way to take off rings, "Now I just need to go take the others off."

"As long as they are wearing the topaz ones… each ring appears to be made of a different material, and only the deltanium is affected by ketchup as far as I can tell…" Lisa stated, as if a convenient point to be proven. Lori noticed some of the ketchup on her koala ruby ring. She made the effort to try and pull it off, but all it did was hurt her finger, like the ring had tightly dug into her bone.

"Can you find out what? Please if we learn what can remove all these rings things will be a lot better," Lori pleaded while wiping the condiment on her ring off on her sleeve. The child prodigy nodded, trying to fix her glasses.

"I can, but… well that's going to be a lot harder without an individual ring, because I can't do thorough analysis on one being worn already," Lisa's explanation made her oldest sister look demoralized. They had to get a separate emerald flower ring and ruby animal ring in order to help discover how to remove them all. The only positive thing Lori could find in this was that as long as they did a good enough job, Nora would inevitably give one of the four of them a new ring that they could throw to Lisa for examination, unaware of the fact Lincoln was in possession of an emerald flower ring that Lana had given him.

"We can't get their rings off," Lucy came down the steps. Normally they would be a lot quieter especially when trying to steal things in the dark, but the small amount of sleeping medicine nearly everyone had received was letting them traverse around a lot easier.

"Don't worry. We can take off the topaz ones easily now. Also, I told Lisa everything," Lori claimed. Lucy gave a small smile, feeling a lot more reassured to know they had the smartest member of the family able to help them out.

"We'll worry about figuring out how to get a ring from Lazzerson's group tomorrow. We should all go to bed for now," the oldest sibling recommended. All they would be doing now is wasting time on the emerald flower rings. They had no way to remove them, and testing random things in the house on them was not a good use of time.

"Alright…" Lucy and Lisa agreed, the two heading off to their rooms, ready to go to bed. Lori looked at the two topaz machinery rings she had now since Lisa gave hers to her. She pocketed them, thinking maybe they could come in handy later.

"You alive over there?" Lincada chirped to the ethereal Lincoln on the floor. Lynn had helped cool her down before leaving to get to bed. Unfortunately for the phantasmal girl controlling her male twin's body, she was stuck in it until he could move and take it back.

"Well… goodnight. I love you too, bro…" Lincada lay down in his bed. It was depressing to her to not hear the normal goodnight that Lincoln would say to every sister for bedtime. The quiet night began to take over as she began to fall asleep. The activity in the Loud House faded away just as fast as it came.

Lincoln felt everything begin to snap back to him. His eyes blinked as he sat up, realizing he was not in his own body at the moment. He gained a large grin on his face.

"Getting rest without having to sleep myself? Looks like someone stole my body again," Lincoln hummed, getting up and making his way over to the bed. Lincada was woken up when she felt movement, seeing Lincoln on top of her.

"Oh, bro! You're awake! Thank goodness… I was- whoa!" Lincada was forcibly thrown out of his body, as Lincoln took his own body back. The female twin was relieved to be out of that heated body.

"Are you okay?" The long white haired girl saw Lincoln stretch and rub his sore arms. The long gashes that had once been on them were now completely gone. The young boy looked over at the clock nearby that read 4.31am.

"Not at all," Lincoln got up and went to the silver case. He opened it and took out the last few syringes of the Jianko regenerative formula and the two rings his twins gave him, pocketing them both. Something was different, and Lincada could tell this. She got ahead of him and blocked him from opening the door.

"What are you doing? You need rest, your body is next to on fire!" His female twin hoped he was going to try an icy cold shower to temporarily ward off the overheating his body was going through.

"Get out of my way. I'm not lying around wasting my time when I got a debt to work off," Lincoln replied. It scared her to see how hostile he had become in a few seconds.

"You can help me though. You want me to carry you?" He poked her forehead. Lincada had no idea what he was doing, but if she could help she would agree, if it did not come off like he had nothing but horrible intentions.

"I'm… just gonna go. Please don't do anything stupid, Lincoln at least for a little bit," Lincada left. After scoffing, Lincoln left his room and went straight downstairs, where he saw Leni asleep on the floor. She had fell off the couch a second time rolling around in her sleep.

"Sheesh…" The white haired boy was glad to have seen her before he had tried to walk past. Lincoln helped Leni back onto the couch, making her comfortable. He took her sunglasses off her head and rested them on the coffee table beside her. The young boy saw no ring on her, yet there was some weird red stuff on her hand.

"Glad you're safe…" Lincoln thought while going into the kitchen, the moonlight illuminating through the window into the small dining area. The young boy opened the refrigerator, reaching inside and pulling out the carton of milk. He looked over at the adults and the kids table.

"Forget the tiny table. I'm done with it. What kind of moron am I to tolerate so many idiots who see me as just a child, anyway?" Lincoln asked himself. He was not acting right for some odd reason. He took the cap off the milk before bringing it to his lips, beginning to chug it like some sort of challenge had been issued to him by nobody.

"Hey there, Lincoln," he heard Luan's voice chime up, looking over to see her with her messy and undone hair and usual pajamas.

"Morning, Luan… amazed you're awake this early," Lincoln half heartedly greeted her. Luan wondered why he was so crabby, but guessed he hated waking up this early. She presumed he was down here for the same reason she was.

"You drank all the milk? Mom just got it yesterday… I guess it's a good thing there's an udder one," Luan laughed at her joke. Lincoln did not respond to it, not even an annoyed groan. She had come down here to get something to help her go back to sleep, and warm milk tended to do the trick.

"…good one," Lincoln responded very late, looking down at her hand to see his comedic sister's emerald flower ring. Luan frowned slightly as she closed the refrigerator back. There was more to this than just a cranky little brother, she had a hunch as to why.

"Are you mad at me, Lincoln?" Luan requested. The last time the comedian had really angered her brother, was when she filled a bucket with cement and put it on the door. The prank didn't go as planned and the cement was dried into concrete. It had almost crushed him when he entered the room, but thankfully it missed so no one got hurt, beyond another hole made to be repaired in the floor.

"Were you following me the other day with Leni?" Lincoln suddenly petrified her with a hate-filled gaze. Luan gulped, feeling like she was talking to a completely different person. She put her hand on his forehead. Once again he had a fever.

"Lincoln, are you sick? If you are I think, there's some cough syrup in the cabinet," Luan suggested. The white haired boy rolled his eyes.

"Ahem! I asked if you were stalking me, and recording me without my permission. Or did that bump you get make you forget?" Lincoln forced the conversation back on his wanted topic.

"Half and half… I'm sorry, Linc," Luan apologized for those uncalled for events, "I was trying to make sure you all were okay."

"Everyone is lately…" Lincoln yawned while grabbing an apple from the nearby bowl and taking a bite out of it. He could tell how horrible his comedic sister felt for breaking that golden rule of recording others, only when they gave permission.

"I guess you're mad with me…?" Luan reiterated.

"No, I'm not mad with you," Lincoln shook his head. Luan had an instant smile on her face.

"But I'm not happy with you either," he then added. She could understand that much. She would have to earn that forgiveness one way or the other. She planned to do just that, aware of how stressed he had been lately.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Luan could tell her only brother was biting his tongue. He was not himself at all. There was a severe aura of hate and condescension around him. Lincoln was doing his best to not make a rude reply every time she opened her mouth, but he was not going to let her, Leni or the rest know that they had been drugged anytime soon.

"Nope," Lincoln simply answered before hearing his cellphone begin ringing. He reached down and pulled it out to see the caller on screen.

"Ronnie Anne…" Lincoln was relieved. The comedic loud girl, hearing this, could tell he was a lot happier that girlfriend was trying to contact him.

"I'll take this outside," he informed her. Luan nodded, aware that he did not want to wake anybody up just by one phone conversation. She watched Lincoln go out the back door.

Lincoln stood under the small light on the steps of the backyard and answered the phone, the occasional gnat flying by or mosquito trying to take his blood, like everything else lately.

"Talk to me."

"Lincoln, I'm glad you're up…I wanted to check up on you." Ronnie Anne greeted him back, though her tone was different than normal. She still felt like a swirl of cold wind was engulfing her, but she was tolerating it.

"I was about to head to work early. I'm getting bored of these passive assignments, I wanna go a bit more on the offensive," Lincoln explained. He heard his girlfriend laugh a little, aware that he was referring to their occasional attackers that had been taking orders from Lazzerson or Jayzo.

"I was thinking the same thing. I'm not able to sleep and Bobby won't stop being annoying," Ronnie Anne hummed, her older brother having spent a lot of time tonight checking on her, almost hourly, worried she might be sick. Bobby however received more hostile responses every time, yet it didn't stop him from checking up on his only sibling.

"I really want to send a message out there to them. Especially since they messed with my sisters. So where do you wanna meet up? I know it isn't a date, but a fun near-morning out on the town sounds fun to me," Lincoln requested. His girlfriend was surprised that his family had been tampered with by the enemy mafia leaders, but he could tell she was happy to oblige and accept his offer.

"I'll meet you at the base," Ronnie Anne informed her boyfriend.

"Alright! I'll see ya there. Bye, I love you."

"Love you too, lame-o," they both hung up, Lincoln hopping off the steps and heading around the house the sound of crickets and people around the neighborhood. A smirk appeared on Lincoln's face as devious thoughts came into his mind. He would have never followed through with any of them before, but now it was all he could think that was able to be done. Lincoln had to send a message to Jayzo and Lazzerson, and their groups' members after all. The young boy gave himself his injection of the medicine earlier than normal, tossing the empty syringe away before heading off into the early day.

"Let's go make Nora proud...And make everyone else, afraid."


	50. Hidden Lies

**Authors Note: Let me just say, I am surprised at the fact we're already 50 chapters into this fic. It really does not feel that way, but I am aware that it hasn't been exactly 50 days since I started it. Main reason being double updates or the likes, I hope you all have been enjoying this fic. Thank you again for all the support, we have hit 40,000 views! Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Also one common PM I get recently is people asking why I don't have fan art of my story. And all I can really say to answer all those and future ones, is I guess my fic just isn't good enough for artwork. Either way I hope you have a good day dear readers, enjoy.**

"You want me to do what?" Clyde was on the phone with his best friend. It was barely 5.30am, but he hated to ignore someone he loved like a brother when they might be in danger. However, instead of a small good morning wakeup call, the young boy instead received a weird request from Lincoln.

"I asked if you would check up on me occasionally with that stupid Track Your Contacts phone app, I know you have it and used it to stalk Lori," Lincoln repeated. Clyde wondered why Lincoln would want him to do that of all things, but did feel embarrassed at the reminder of his past use of the application.

"Hey, I apologized for that… Anyway, why do you want me to do that?" Clyde asked. Using that phone app to stalk Lori was the last straw for Lincoln, and afterward he had that heart to heart with him to snap him out of that obsession for her.

"Because I need a lifeline… just keep your eye on me, and if I don't move at all for a long time, call Lori, Lynn and Lucy and send'em my way," Lincoln stated his safety precaution. Clyde was concerned. His best friend was sounding more creepy than usual, almost like he was planning on being in a bad situation, though the mafia lifestyle was nothing but one big bad situation to his recollection.

"Alright, Lincoln. I'll do it. Just please promise me you'll be safe," Clyde agreed before he heard his best friend scoff. He sounded so snarky right now that it was annoying.

"No promises. Thanks Clyde," Lincoln hung up. Here he was, arriving to the mafia main headquarters for his group. He gained a big smile when he saw his girlfriend waiting outside the front gate.

"Lame-o, it's about time you got here, what took you so long?" Ronnie Anne asked, Lincoln pulling her into a hug.

"Sorry. I got caught up in something. I'm just glad to see you! Come on, let's go talk to Nora about our request," Lincoln apologized, Ronnie Anne nodding with a smirk as she held his hand. They both made their way inside, the guards giving them a welcome back greeting as the duo passed by.

"Wow… this place feels a lot brighter for some reason," Ronnie Anne commented. Their mafia's main base for some reason felt a lot cheerier this morning. They could safely assume that it was because of the forced vacation everyone received due to the bomb threats. A good few days off to unwind or gather themselves did wonders for a lot of the members here.

"Don't get used to it," Lincoln recommended to her, for when it will change in a day when people had to do jobs they disliked or fend off their next attackers. Not many of the young couple's co-workers knew about the missing bombs, but they were not gonna dampen the bright vibe.

"Hey, great to see you here early," a familiar voice chimed up when the two were nearing Nora's office. On a chair beside a heavy metal door, the two saw David.

"Couldn't sleep anyway. Why waste time at home, when I can spend it working, right?" Lincoln rhetorically joked. The cigarette addicted man could tell something was different about him, but it was a change he was not going to mind. David always thought Lincoln was too timid, yet this more hostile aura was a lot better than a fearful aura.

"What's in that room?" Ronnie Anne pointed to the metal door beside David. It looked creepy, mainly because of the eight latches that could be locked on it and a pair of handles made to hold chains. Neither of them were locked at the moment, but it really took heavy security to a new level.

"That's the interrogation room. My girlfriend's in there sorting out someone who was working for Lazzerson," David explained. Hearing this, the only thing Lincoln and his girlfriend could imagine was torture styled interrogation. They never wanted to end up in that room as long as they lived. The heavy door began to open, letting out a long scraping and creaking noise.

"That was disappointing," Maddison murmured, stepping out from the interrogation room and closing the door back in frustration. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne saw her covered in a lot of blood.

"Really? Usually that makes you want to do three energy pops at once," David commented, standing up and pulling out one lock after another from his pocket, putting them into each latch to make sure the door didn't move.

"Maddison? She's your girlfriend now?" Ronnie Anne was surprised, considering how terrified David once was of her. Lincoln chuckled lightly, unable to help but laugh a little.

"Yeah. She's very persuasive," David sighed as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Hey, you two! It's great to see you again! I was worried you were avoiding me!" the Mad Batter exclaimed, hugging the young couple. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne appreciated the warm welcome, despite the blood on her clothing.

"No, you're just really hard to keep up with," Ronnie Anne replied. Maddison's constant hyper attitude, due to having an energy pop in her mouth at all times, made it hard to follow, especially on longer missions.

"Sorry, but we need to go see Nora," Lincoln was feeling an overwhelming impatience building inside him.

"Alrighty!" Maddison nodded, she and David letting the young couple continue on their way to go see their mafia's boss. The young couple seemed very eager to get started on work today. While it was creepy to David, the Mad Batter was very happy to imagine they finally found the fun in this line of work.

"Think Nora will actually let us do what we want? Or do we have to go out of our way again to prove we can handle it?" Ronnie Anne asked her boyfriend as they arrived to the second floor office.

"I'm not leaving 'til she gives the full order for it, even if I have to be assertive," Lincoln declared. Ronnie Anne happily agreed with this. The two almost had some weird synergy, almost like they were keeping each other alive, like they were numbing these odd symptoms of overheating and feeling internally frozen. The two headed through the door into the office.

"Hm? Well, now this is a surprise," Nora saw the loving couple walk in, closing the door behind them.

"Yeah, yeah, we know, we're early. We wanted to talk to you," Lincoln stated as the two stepped up to her desk. Their mafia leader did not know why they were acting so different, but she was not going to complain about dedication in this line of work.

"Before anything else, Mister Loud, I have the information you requested just like you requested. Information only on your parents, with the five best private detectives our business had available," Nora held up a folder. Lincoln took the folder in his own hands. Ronnie Anne was confused, but kept quiet on this presumably personal matter.

"Thanks, Nora…" Lincoln exhaled, somehow he had gained a sudden nervousness as he opened the folder and began to skim through the many pages it held, despite its thin appearance.

"It appears I owe you an apology for my prior insults about your family," the ruby mafia leader said, almost looking disappointed that she had to contest such defeat, but was aware that it was far out of her own line to insult them like that, and no amount of blame could be pinned on her alcoholism.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln quirked an eyebrow, his eyes more glued on the document.

"It appears your parents are as pure as snow. The closest thing to a questionable blemish on their records is that your mother tried to become a surgeon and your father tried being a fire fighter. One decided to change their degrees and the other failed the tests," Nora explained, though this information was nothing new to him.

"I remember. Dad told us he didn't meet the physical needs, and mom realized she couldn't handle the sight of people's insides," Lincoln stated. Their parents had shared their tales together. All the late night medical school studies and their father's attempts at training so he could become a firefighter, but failed the test twice. But that didn't stop them from expressing the times as remarkable experiences.

"What's wrong lame-o?" Ronnie Anne asked her confused boyfriend.

"Oh… uh, I think there's a typo," Lincoln said. At a point of the document where it was listing off every child born from the loud parents, there read to be two sets of twins in the family, the supposed typo claiming there was a twin born with Lincoln, but there was nothing more than that.

"There isn't. I thoroughly checked the document and made sure there were no errors. Trust me, I make sure the favors from me are as golden as the money you earn," Nora insisted. It was far fetched to imagine five private detectives all giving the same wrong information, unless they had all gathered it from the same lying source, which would be a horrible business practice for a total of five investigators.

"…Is this Lincada?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah, but… No one ever said mom and dad were going to have a twin with me," Lincoln responded. None of their older family had any information about this, nor did he hear any of it.

"Probably failed to carry to full term," his girlfriend guessed. Nora drank from her whiskey bottle, looking like she was preparing for a long day herself.

"That is what I believed at first, but… Turn to the police reports," Nora informed them. Lincoln did just that, looking over the criminal reports page. There were several reports about noise disturbances. Two, however, caught his eye.

"Reporting that a five-hour-old girl was taken from the neonatal intensive care unit. A nurse was seen on camera leaving with the newborn. The child was in intensive care due to being a surprise twin that had not been seen on the tests or any prior checkup."

"Kidnapped…?" Lincoln felt his heart skip a beat. He felt a surge of anger boil in his head. He then read the other documented report.

"Nurse Paula was arrested for suspected kidnapping. The unnamed newborn could not be located. After interrogation she claims she had sold the baby for two hundred dollars. Investigation has not been able to turn up anything. The parents were distraught, recommending surveillance be kept on Paula."

As Lincoln could then see, they were outdated, the dates the investigations had begun were a week after he was born, the investigation being called off seven years later. Ever since then, they had given up the search. Lincoln's eye twitched. He was madder than prior, and Ronnie Anne knew why. Nora smirked, looking to him.

"It appears your parents are not as honest with you as you thought."


	51. Confusion and Anger

**Authors Note: Here is your double update dear readers, thank you all for the 40,000 views!**

Lynn stepped out of the bathroom scratching her head. A normal eight o'clock hour, and the Loud house was booming with the usual morning activity.

"Nice to have a normal morning before work," Lynn hummed. She would take a home of happiness over one of worry and grief. She knew there was still Luna and Luan's emerald plant rings to be dealt with, but the auburn haired girl could take a lot of reassurance in knowing they would not be starting their work until Lazzerson contacted them somehow.

"Good morning, Lynn. Great to see you up sweetheart," Mrs. Loud greeted Lynn, having already prepared cereal for her daughter since she was about to go wake her up.

"Thanks, mom," Lynn happily greeted her mother. She could tell everyone either already finished their breakfasts, or were next to done and were preparing for their routine today.

Lynn then noticed Leni, Lola and Lana. They were talking to Lucy, Lori, and Lisa. Lynn could tell that they were having a serious talk with their low IQ sibling. They were of course keeping quieter and pretending it was a casual morning routine.

"Guess it's good that Luna is practicing…" Lynn thought, the sound of the electric guitar rifting through the house thanks to the door being wide open. No amount of sound proofing in a room would matter if there was an opening to let the sound escape.

"I can't believe it…" Leni exhaled while putting her head on her hands, staring at the carpet of the floor, seeming greatly saddened by this news she had received.

"Sorry, Leni… I hope you understand," Lori apologized. The siblings who knew decided to inform the second oldest what happened to her ring, and what they believed Jayzo was really after.

"So… how and when did you all figure it out…?" Lynn wondered. Somehow in less than a day, four of the other Loud siblings discovered what was really going on to cause the strange behavior with everyone, in the space of a few hours.

"Lincoln told us last night," Lola answered.

"After we gave him our rings," Lana added, the twins showing their ringless hands.

"Lori told me when I confronted her about it," Lisa stated with her confused and annoyed scientist look. She needed separate rings to examine. Any other theories she had in her mind to remove them became nothing but dead ends.

"Sorry for not waiting on you or Lincoln," Lucy apologized. They should have had everyone involved here to discuss it, especially the only brother of theirs that they were going through all this effort to help out. Lincoln was the only one who knew the whole story from start to finish.

"It's fine. Today's going to be rough, I'm sure," Lynn insisted not to worry about it. They needed to be prepared for the inevitably tough day ahead of them.

"I'm sorry you guys… I can't believe I almost wound up joining that… that… tinman?" Leni couldn't think of an insult for Jayzo, so she spoke what first came to mind. There was a silence at first, but everyone began laughing hard. It was pretty funny to picture the topaz machinery leader like this.

"Oh, we love you Leni, don't you worry! I'll help get any supplies you need for your clothes," Lori wrapped her arms around her younger sister. Leni gained a bright smile and returned the hug, glad that no one was upset at her for this near family sabotaging event.

"Aww! Thank you so much Lori! I'll make your baby the best clothes!" Leni promised. It warmed Lynn's heart to know everyone could be so happy in these stressful times. The only positive thing the teenage girl saw out of any time working in the mafia was the exercise, and money.

"Wait… you said you needed an emerald ring so you could get Luna and Luan's off?" Lana requested.

"Precisely. I've never studied these materials before. They are practically outlawed in multiple countries due to how many weapons can be mass produced with even just the smallest ore," Lisa explained. Lucy had to admit that it sounded scarier than anything. The only upside was that there was no guns allowed in these turf wars, or else the police would be all over each fight.

"I guess that explains how they can make so many rings so easily," Lynn exhaled. She just wished these nice and very carefully detailed rings were put to a more respectful representation rather than decoration for whom to target.

"I had one, remember? I took it off and gave it to Lincoln," Lana reminded them. She was with the others when they met Lazzerson, and the promise of taking care of a lot of special animals got her to agree to work for Lazzerson.

"That's right! We forgot you had an emerald ring! Quick, Lucy, go get Lincoln," Lori ordered. Their gothic sibling nodded.

"Oh, Lincoln's not in his room," before Lucy could take one step forward, Luan spoke up. She was carrying her plate back to the kitchen but had stopped midway upon hearing them talk about their only brother.

"What do you mean? Is he in the bathroom?" Leni quirked.

"Nah…" Luan shook her head, "I saw him really early this morning. He was… not happy with me for what I did. It felt like he threw my apology in the garbage disposal. I guess you can say… he put it in the trash?"

There was no laughter. Even she felt that one was horrible at best.

"Oh… I guess he isn't too happy with me either, then…" Leni murmured, even though at the end of that scary chase the other night Lincoln had told her not to worry about it. If he would not forgive Luan, then she could only presume that same went for her.

"So where is Lincoln?" Lucy worriedly asked. Lynn had a bad feeling that all Lincoln had done yesterday was make the gothic sibling's affection for him strengthen, and in turn made Lynn feel surprisingly jealous. She hated herself immensely for feeling this way, but decided to worry about it later since they were close to being able to remove the others rings.

"I don't know. Ronnie Anne called him and he stepped out back to talk to her… I saw him walking past the kitchen window though," Luan explained. Almost instantly everyone was reaching for their cellphones.

"Hm… I predict getting that ring from Lincoln is going to be hard…" Lisa rubbed her eyes sorely.

"Lincoln?" Lincada appeared behind her male twin and his girlfriend. The couple was walking through the edge of Royal Woods, and were outside of town, where it was mostly just the rural countryside. When he saw her behind him, he felt his heart and nerves hurt.

"Oh… Lincada…" Lincoln mouthed. Ronnie Anne though heard this, and was aware that it could be her right now.

"What's the matter with you?" Lincada quirked. There was no response from him for the while, "Hello…? Are you ignoring me now?"

"Not just you…" Lincoln muttered, when he heard his cellphone ringing again. That was the tenth time in a row. He had the overwhelming anger explode within him when he had found out the truth behind Lincada.

"Why'd you want to go after this guy of all of them first? It took us three hours to get here when we could've just called a taxi," Ronnie Anne requested. Her boyfriend wanted to go after the farthest away target of the five on their list, for some odd reason.

"I wanted to get the farthest one out of the way first… and you know the taxis won't drive this far out because of muggings," Lincoln claimed. The taxis would refuse to drive outside of Royal Woods due to muggings primarily happening when taken far away from town.

"You are ignoring me! Come on! I said I'd tell you the truth now…" Lincada whined. Lincoln stomped on the ground and turned around, grabbing her by the collar.

"I already figured it out! Nora gave me the scoop! You were just too scared to tell me right away that I was a twin, weren't you? You couldn't even tell me I had this weird talent," Lincoln demanded. Lincada was terrified. Her identity as his twin sister was hurting Lincoln so badly, but not as much as that the Loud parents had somehow been able to cut her out of their lives, without so much as telling a word to any of the other Loud family members, like she had never existed to begin with.

"W-we both got this talent! It's not my fault you weren't that in touch with your spiritual side! Astral projection, even! Can't you just be happy to know you can do it now?! You're being mean!" Lincada growled. Lincoln understood quite a lot now why he had been able to touch her, and all of the eldritch abilities they had. It was because he was more in touch with his spiritual side now.

"What should I say to that? It's not my fault you got kidnapped when we were born. But don't worry, I'll make sure our first meet up is reaaaal nice," Lincoln shoved back the now upset Lincada.

"Wait… what do you mean our first meet up?! There's a reason I haven't told you where I am!" His twin demanded he speak before they continue further toward the farm in the near distance. Ronnie Anne was looking at a small bundle of flowers that had been growing under a tree. The Santiago girl found it charming how so many different types of flowers could grow together without disturbing each other, she was growing impatient of her boyfriend though.

"You remember that nurse, Paula? She's in the state mental asylum. She played crazy to get a lighter punishment. Me and Ronnie Anne get to have some fun and I get to make progress on finding where you are…" Lincoln hummed. Lincada wondered what he was talking about when she felt his finger on her forehead, as if her twin was threatening her to stare directly into his rage filled eyes.

"Wh-what did you agree to?!"

"We agreed to hunt down the traitors who joined Jayzo, to teach them a lesson, and Nora agreed to get her people inside the asylum to have a nice long chat with Paula until she tells the truth, they'll follow the trail after that and eventually it'll take them to you," Lincoln stepped back. Lincada was mortified, trying to keep her composure. This was not her brother as he was supposed to be.

"No… no, you can't possibly have agreed to that!"

"Again, lame-o, you are crazy… But I love that look you have now," Ronnie Anne commented. Lincada could tell that same personality change she had with her boyfriend, as if the two matched perfectly. Lincoln walked up to her and offered his hand to her. She happily put her hand in his, the two continuing toward their destination with those eerie smiles across their face.

"Finally…" Lincoln stretched, "I'm tired of hiding and being afraid…"

"Glad we both like our new selves. Let's go make our marks deep in the mafia world!"

"You've changed, Lincoln… wait… you're not Lincoln at all!" Lincada stood there, horrified. She was aware that Lincoln referred to the traitorous police officers, who gladly stripped themselves of their rings and gladly joined Jayzo. If he was going out of his way to make them pay, she wondered how badly he would do so. She decided to try and talk to her twin later. She disappeared, praying that Lincoln would not commit a depraved, heinous action that may inevitably destroy himself.

"Has he snapped?"


	52. Rage

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne had walked to the property of this farm. The area was surrounded by a wired fence, but the entrance was unlocked, so they made their own way in from another direction. The place looked quite calm, the wind blowing through while the sun pierced the few clouds in the sky.

"Aww, look," Ronnie Anne pointed nearby where a wooden fence was set up. In there were several horses, but the one she was interested in was a young foal, that did not even look a week old yet.

"Wow… that's a big horse…" Lincoln saw another horse near that one that was presumably the mother. That one looked giant, compared to any of the other steeds in the pen. They all equally looked reliable, but that mother horse looked like she could run a thousand miles.

"Where do you think Digby is?" Ronnie Anne asked. Her boyfriend could not see their first target anywhere. The first person on the list of traitors was Digby M Pope, who had been working for Nora by supplying her information straight from the police headquarters within the center of Royal Woods for three years straight.

"Not like it's hard to miss him… did you see how stupid he looked?" Lincoln asked. His girlfriend could not help but snicker slightly, recalling that picture all too well. Ronnie Anne saw a middle aged man working at repairing some of the wire fence that had been in need of replacing, a shovel resting nearby after being used to rip out a few rotten posts.

"Yeah. That's him," Ronnie Anne claimed. They could tell it was Digby. His hair was grey, but he had black sideburns like it was a weird hat. The couple smirked, bumping fists before they began to move in.

"Oof!" Lincoln was hit in the stomach and knocked down on his back, kicking up some dirt upon landing. He then heard a baaing like noise.

"Heh… guess a goat's taken a liking to you," Ronnie Anne laughed. The curled horned animal stood there, after it had charged at them out of nowhere.

"Ow… is this a goat's tradition of liking someone?" Lincoln groaned. He would take his dog Charles tearing his pants off a thousand times over for candy the young boy had in his pocket. That goat felt like a horse kicking him instead.

"He's a ram, not a goat, and my pet," Digby chimed in as he approached, having heard the two when the ram decided to give them a surprise greeting.

"Where's the part where I'm supposed to care?" Lincoln growled in a hostile manner, standing up. When the ram tried to headbutt him again, he grabbed it by one of its horns, making sure it would not get another attack in on him.

"So you're former police officer Digby Pope?" Ronnie Anne already knew the answer, but she decided to feign this being a normal visit to hide their true intentions, that and her boyfriend was fighting a ram so she didn't want to lose what little advantage they had here.

"Yeah. I turned in my badge recently… and why?" Digby asked, his two topaz machinery rings being on his hands. Lincoln grunted as he shoved the ram away into a nearby fence and closed it, stopping the animal from escaping, it had been attacking them almost like it knew what they were here for.

"What are you two doing here?" Digby noticing the ruby animal rings on the young couple's hands, and a tingle of fear was sent into his body.

"We're workers of Nora's. I guess you could say we could have been your co-workers if you stayed," Ronnie Anne started. Lincoln flashed a big smile, that fury blistering in both of their eyes, adding onto the fear the man had.

"…And we're here to give a message. A very personal one about why you should never betray those who help you," Lincoln finished. Digby began to move, about to make a run for it.

"Whoa there," Ronnie Anne quickly grabbed the nearby shovel and swung it low, hitting Digby in his right ankle. It made him fall over instantly, and he held his right lower leg in agony.

"Aaaaargh! I-I think you br-broke my ankle!" The middle aged former cop cried. He could not get up, no matter how hard he tried. A busted ankle was not going to tolerate the weight of his body.

"Aw… did you hear that, Ronnie Anne? He said he can't run now," Lincoln hummed in a horrifying joyful tone, while stomping on the mans broken ankle hearing him scream in agony. He was beginning to think that he and his girlfriend should make themselves a tagline, so they could strike fear to the people and let them know their names better.

"Mhm… and there is a lot of wire fence here. Let's prepare him for that valuable lesson," Ronnie Anne shared the same joy as her boyfriend, it was like the two were in pure ecstasy now that they could take their anger out on someone.

"Lincoln! Now look here, I…!"

Lincada gasped. She had came back to try and talk to him again, but she could tell she was too late when she saw him watching Ronnie Anne begin tying up the topaz machinery worker with the wire fence reel, not caring for the man's plights for mercy, or medical aid.

"What are you doing?!"

"You come to see the show? We're just getting started," Lincoln offered. He saw his female twin get in front of him.

"You're not going to kill him!" Lincada's hands formed to fists, ready to fight him if she had to. "A-are you?! You can't be that insane!"

"Murder? I'm never going to kill anybody. I just have to make sure Digby here knows he made a grave mistake by spitting in Nora's face like he did," Lincoln reassured. Lincada could tell how much he wanted to hurt somebody. Lincoln looked so angry, and Ronnie Anne was just as mentally shifted as her boyfriend.

"Now, back to business- …oh, not again…" Lincoln groaned. His cellphone began ringing again. As he could see, every sister of his was now trying to get in contact with him. He was about to ignore the call when he felt Lincada grab his hand.

"Just answer it! You need help!" She exclaimed, trying to force him to hit the answer button. Lincoln gritted his teeth.

"QUIT GETTING IN MY WAY!" Lincoln punched her. Lincada fell flat on her bottom, staring at him. Whatever happened to her in astral being could be felt by her real self, she swore her nose was bleeding now. Lincoln ignored the call as he pocketed his phone.

"You… you're not my brother…" Lincada cast a horrible glare, "You're a bloodthirsty monster!"

Lincoln didn't reply to his twin, and instead went over to help Ronnie Anne drag Digby off for his lesson. This wasn't her brother, the one once referred to as second father to the family. He had the look of only wanting to burn his fury into everyone's hearts.

"…I can't do anything to stop this either… What made him change…?" Lincada murmured as she held her head, staying seated on the ground, until the metaphorical light bulb went off in her head.

"The medicine! That stupid healing junk they started taking!" She realized. That was the only thing that could be the cause of this change, and there was nothing she could do to let her other sisters know. Ronnie Anne was being affected by the Jianko regenerative formula as well, but Lincada could not get a hold of Bobby either, not in her spectral state.

"…I need to try and think…" Lincada faded away. There was not much more she could do for the moment, so she was not going to waste her time. She at least knew that her twin had not hit her out of hate from his heart, but some full mental insanity blown rage that would explode at even the slightest confrontation, that seemed far out of control.

"Still no answer…" Lynn sighed as she put her phone away. It was now ten in the morning as Vanzilla arrived to the ruby animal mafia headquarters. Lincoln had not answered any of their calls, and they had filled his voicemail to its maximum limit with messages requesting him to call them back.

"He'll be fine if he's with Ronnie Anne," Lori was only able to think that. Actual words refused to leave her lips, mainly because Bobby texted his pregnant girlfriend most of last night about how much more hostile than usual Ronnie Anne became, and it peaked when for the first time in his life, she hit him. The two were both shocked, but Bobby passed it off presuming it was just his sister trying to get used to all the changes now that she was a teenager, he figured that she was having her first time of the month, so he backed off like she wanted.

"So this Nora person will know where Lincoln is?" Leni asked. Lynn and Lucy looked behind the middle seat they were in. The second oldest loud sibling was in the very back seat and somehow they had not even realized it until now.

"Leni, what are you doing back there!?" Lori asked, shocked.

"I was napping. The ride was really long," Leni answered with that innocent smile. Everyone else remembered Nora from that fateful day where she pretended to be a Child Protective Services member. Thankfully, the low IQ loud sibling had forgotten her.

"We should probably turn around and take her home…" Lucy suggested. Lori groaned, hitting her head against the steering wheel. The drives to and from work were ridiculous.

"Aw, no way! I want to help you guys find Lincoln, and I need to make it up to you all for nearly joining Jayzo," Leni fixed her sunglasses back onto her head, having used them to help sleep easier.

"What are you saying? …Please don't say what I think you're about to say," Lynn begged.

"I wanna join Nora! Especially if it helps you all," Leni declared, just what her sisters didn't want to hear. They were trying to keep their family away from the mafias, not bring them to their front doors.

"No way!" Lori, Lynn and Lucy responded simultaneously.

"But… but Lisa said if I join, it'll get us an easy ring, and I want one! I mean, Lori has those adorable ones," Leni explained, looking saddened. Lori wondered if the koala and dog ruby rings were really that adorable.

"So Lisa put you up to this," Lucy groaned. Lisa had definitely planted the idea in her head.

"Look. Here's what is gonna happen, Leni. You're going to stay here until we find Lincoln. Nora will surely let you hang around, but whatever you do, DON'T talk to her," Lori explained, "You got it?"

"Yeah! Don't talk to Nora, I got it," Leni nodded, understanding and repeating the order. Their leader sounded pretty scary anyway, so she intended to try and avoid her at all costs. Lynn and Lucy had a bad feeling that today was going to be rougher than they wanted it to be.

"Please let Lincoln find us," Lynn whispered to herself, "Please let Lincoln find us before we really need to find him…"


	53. Call For Help

**Authors Note: I just wanted to say thank you all, for the 400 reviews. I still cannot believe my first story has captivated and hopefully inspired so many. It makes me terrified that anything I write aside from this will not be liked, I bring that up mainly because I have another fic that will be posted relatively soon. I would do it now, but unfortunately as you all can tell by now, the reviews are glitched right now. Yes your reviews are posted, they just cannot be viewed yet. And unfortunately, I do not have email notifications on due to the fact I don't own the email for this account, but your continued support is still noticed by the growing numbers, so please keep sharing your thoughts.**

"So… what do we do with him now?" Ronnie Anne and Lincoln stood in the barn, the location for where they punished Digby, her boyfriend snapping photos of the scene before them.

"We could just untie him and leave him here. He sure isn't gonna wake up soon anyway," Lincoln said. His girlfriend shrugged, going over and beginning to untie Digby. He had cuts and bruises all over himself, his face being bashed in.

"Next time, don't heat up a horseshoe to brand him with. That was messier than it needed to be," Ronnie Anne informed him. Digby had a large burn mark on his upper left torso that resembled a horseshoe. Lincoln had super heated one with the fire from a prepped bonfire pit. He snapped the last photo sending the bunch of new graphic pictures to Nora via text before pocketing his phone. He believed his boss was going to enjoy every last photo in the small gallery he sent.

"He spat in your face, Ronnie Anne, and you're telling me to take it easy?" Lincoln tilted his head, the Santiago girl returning the same devious look they both had in their eyes.

"We're punishing him for Nora, not ourselves. Besides, it's fun to watch them writhe like that. It's like they think some petty superhero is going to save their butt," Ronnie Anne evilly laughed. Lincoln could not help but to pull his girlfriend into a hug and exchange passionate kisses with her. However, their short kissing session was interrupted when Lincoln got knocked over.

"Ow… Seriously?" the young boy groaned. The ram had somehow escaped the pen he had forced it into.

"Wow that is one crafty ram," Ronnie Anne had never seen an intelligent ram before, but it was supposedly Digby's pet, so maybe it had a deeper bond with him than the other farm animals.

"I still hate it a lot," Lincoln said. He tried to get off the ground, only to feel the hard collision of the ram's head hit the side of his skull, and everything went blank instantly. Lincoln lay limp on his side, the ram stood idle like it was trying to absorb it's victory.

"Alright, alright, ease up there. My boyfriend has gotten enough brain damage for today," Ronnie Anne joked, crouching down and picking him up in her arms bridal style. She began to walk away from the barn, the ram not caring about her at all for some reason.

"Aw…" Ronnie Anne saw a few baby chicks wandering around. That anger in Ronnie Anne was a lot easier to snap than Lincoln's. The teenage girl wondered if the animals had been fed today. The two of them did have four more targets to hunt and punish severely, but she couldn't just leave if it put innocent animals at risk.

"Sorry Lincoln… Hang out here a little and I'll be right back," Ronnie Anne rested him down on the ground, and she went for the farmhouse. That same evil look was on the sleeping Lincoln's face, his dreams perhaps the same as most of the actions he did this morning.

"Alright, now we can go," Ronnie Anne returned after a brief few moments. She had run inside and took the phone off the receiver before dialing 911. She never spoke to the dispatcher, but Ronnie Anne knew how the police emergency services worked. Someone would come soon to check up on the caller. She was hoping that someone related to Digby could be notified to take care of the animals while he was in hospital. Ronnie Anne left with her unconscious boyfriend in her arms, both of them heading out from the farm to go find their next target.

"Uh… Nora? Hello?" Lori called out while knocking on their mafia leader's office door, and once again there was no answer. The pregnant loud looked down to her younger sisters. The three had been trying to get Nora's attention for five minutes now, and it seemed like she was not in.

"Maybe she's just drunk. We should go in," Lucy said. Their boss rarely was affected by all the liquor she drank, but there was a first time for everything. Lynn could tell that her gothic sibling was hiding her anxiety of worry for their brother. They were aware they would have to work, but they could not do much without the guidance of their group's supposed leader.

"Fine, fine," Lori sighed, grabbing the doorknob and opening the door, stepping inside. The office looked normal. They found Nora laying there, her upper body on her desk. Doctor Jeffrey stood beside her, hooking up an IV bag to her wrist.

"Doctor Jeffrey? What's going on?" Lynn asked as the three loud girls approached. The African-American doctor rubbed his head.

"Nora went overboard. She does it when she's very upset, but she's got a liver of steel," Jeffrey explained. Once again he was just trying to make sure his boss stayed alive and her alcoholism did not prematurely end her days. He occasionally made sure she had no alcohol poisoning and gave her fluids while she slept, so the hangover would not be too severe.

"Upset? What could have happened to make her that upset?" Lori asked. Lucy was more preoccupied with a bookshelf that had an entire row full of books on occultism, which she much wanted to borrow sometime, while wondering why their boss had so much varying literature.

"Well, if my memory's correct, the last time she did this was around a month after Jayzo showed up. We all felt very cornered when him and his men appeared out of nowhere," the doctor answered while walking around their boss's desk, looking depressed from recalling those hard times.

"Has Lincoln been here? We're looking for him," Lynn requested to know if the doctor had any clue of their only brother's whereabouts, having caught him before he left.

"Uhh… oh yeah, he was here. I saw him and his girlfriend making out downstairs," he said, almost like he was lost in memories of his college days.

"Did you talk with them? Did they say where they were going?" Lucy requested. The doctor nodded.

"Of course, I talked with them. Honestly, I can't believe I have to teach so many people about safe sex lately," Jeffrey claimed. He had no idea where they went, but he apparently had a brief chat, trying to make sure they did not make a mistake.

"…er… well… thanks, Doctor Jeffrey," Lori muttered, letting him go. The doctor however chimed up again when he was at the door.

"I almost forgot… Your brother and his girlfriend looked angrier than a thousand bulls," Jeffrey informed them before he made his way out the door, Lynn Lori and Lucy looked back and forth to one another, all flustered with confusion.

"What would they be mad about? Did something happen?" Lynn wondered, hoping Leni was eating in the downstairs area. The other ruby animal mafia members welcomed her, thankfully.

"I don't know, but I don't think Luan and Leni could have caused it," Lucy doubted the stalking would upset their brother for this long of a period of time.

"Nora, hey, wake up… come on, we really need to talk to you," Lori tried to wake up Nora by shaking her. Their boss just grumbled before returning to her deep slumber. Lori could see the trash can under the desk containing three empty whiskey bottles, and a lot of glass shards underneath those indicating more than three empty bottles were in the trash can.

"You are the definition of pathetic," Lori claimed, unimpressed by how weak their boss mentally was, if she always needed liquor to survive. She scratched her head before she saw the phone on the desk.

"…That's right…! Lincoln wouldn't ignore a phone call from Nora!" Lori smiled as she picked up the phone. Lynn and Lucy quickly recognized their oldest sister's plan and agreed to it, since Nora was out of commission for an unknown amount of time, they doubted she would mind them borrowing her phone briefly.

"Well, here goes nothing…" She finished dialing her brother's cellphone number. A ringing sounded as she waited as long as she could, hoping for an answer. Finally the ringing stopped.

"Hello?"

"Lincoln?" Lori was relieved, and so was Lynn and Lucy, "Thank goodness you answered! Where are you?"

"N-no, it's Lincada. Lincoln got knocked out by a goat or something, and Ronnie Anne is calling a taxi. Bu-but I don't think I've much time left in his body, so I'll get to the point. You need to come quick! They've lost their minds! They want to beat up everyone they see, even strangers or any person they know, who didn't do anything to them!" Lincada sounded scared, aware that when her twin regained consciousness in his ethereal form, she expected him to be very upset at her for taking his body without consent again.

"They're what?!" Lori was not able to believe what she was hearing. Lynn and Lucy's relief from thinking their brother's answer to their call was shattered.

"They're hunting and torturing all the traitors who joined Jayzo! That Jianko medicine they've been taking has been messing with their brains! Please hurry, they aren't themselves anymore. You need to find a way to fix them. I hate to imagine what else will happen when this is done," Lincada pleaded for assistance.

"Where are you, Lincada?" Lori asked. There then was a surprised scream from Lincada.

"Graaah! I'm sick of this! I swear, if one more idiot calls me, wastes my time or takes my body again, I'm going to destroy them!" Lincoln's angry tone sounded, clearly he had retrieved his body again, and the call suddenly ended. Lori was at a loss for words. Lynn and Lucy were just as horrified.

"Huh?" Lynn was snapped out of her heart gripping trance when her phone began to ring, and she answered it, "Hello?"

"Hey Lynn. Sorry to bother you, but I know Lori won't answer my calls and I don't know Lucy's phone number," Clyde apologized.

"Clyde? It's alright… but what are you calling for?"

"Lincoln asked me to be his lifeline, and if he didn't move for a long time, I had to call you three immediately, and he hasn't moved in an hour from that bus stop off Westchester Avenue," Clyde explained. Lynn had a quirked eyebrow, thinking maybe it was her brother's last act before rage and anger had overwhelmed his mind completely.

"Clyde, you are more than a lifeline. You are a lifesaver! Text me wherever he goes! Thank you so much!" Lynn thanked him. Clyde was surprised at how joyous she sounded. He wondered what was going on, but she hung up before he could ask.

"Well, that was rude..."

"We know where he is! Come on, let's get going!" Lynn insisted.

"Now I kind of feel bad for hurting Clyde like I did," Lori mumbled. She was now more than happy to apologize for her past issues with him when she got the chance. They hoped Leni would be fine staying at the base for an unknown amount of time, but since Nora was in an alcohol induced coma, it was safe to presume it was the least of their worries.

"Let's hurry before they get any worse!"


	54. Breaking The Rules

**Authors Note: I wanted to say dear viewers, that with this chapter marks another milestone in this fic, I hope you enjoy it, and thank you all again we are nearing 50k views, and I cannot believe it still, and my new fic has been received well so far at least. I still hope you like this all, and I will do my best to update this story daily, enjoy, and do not worry we are not at the end yet.**

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood outside of Jayzo's primary building, the same one they visited during the charity event. Here, the humongous crowd of people stood in front of the building, which appeared to be protesters from two major groups, human rights and animal rights protesters.

"What is going on?" Ronnie Anne quirked with her hands in her pocket.

"Just idiots protesting and getting in the way of medical improvements," Lincoln groaned. Even he could tell from a mile away that these large groups hated Jayzo and his company for all the testing he did on both people and animals. He found protests dumb and caused nothing but traffic jams on the road and hypocritical addition to senseless violence, one of the things they supposedly protested against.

"Ooooh… three targets," Ronnie Anne grinned. Standing out at the front door was the trio of security guards. All of them were former police officers, the two men and one woman, who had betrayed Nora. Their main help to the ruby mafia was by making it easier to release their arrested members from jail, losing that ability made things more difficult for their entire mafia.

"Hmm… Ronnie Anne, what happens a lot with protests?" Lincoln asked his girlfriend while they were staring at this protest. The people's chanting was giving them headaches already, and the poorly made signs were an eye sore. Ronnie Anne scratched her head, trying to find the answer for him.

"They usually become riots before they end," Ronnie Anne claimed. Lincoln gave a thumbs up, agreeing right there. In riots, violence spread fast like a wildfire, and in the end, nothing but a partially damaged city area was left, that and some very angry tax payers.

"Yeah! So let's have them punish the guards for us," Lincoln hummed. Ronnie Anne loved that idea. She hugged her boyfriend, the evil duo looking at the protest with grins.

"Okay, so… how good is your fake crying?" Lincoln asked. Ronnie Anne instantly put on a fake upset appearance like a young girl who had just received a grounding that would last a whole year, the same hour after her puppy had been kidnapped.

"Love it… let's go cause havoc," the white haired boy declared, and the two went in separate directions into the crowd of protests. The three guards on duty were going to be surprised by this plan of the young couple's once it was complete.

"What is going on?" one of the security guards, asked noticing a lot more of a hostile aura coming from the crowd.

"Did Jayzo throw a donut out the window at them again…?" the one female guard wondered aloud. Their boss tended to do that during protests, not like anyone could see him from the higher part of the tower, but they still did not agree with the topaz machinery leader riling up protesters like this by throwing random things at them like target practice.

"No, we had glass panes installed over regular windows for that reason," the other male guard reminded them that they had done that out of safety of their own boss.

"…an-and that dark room… I only go-got out to be injected with weird things… My body wou-wouldn't work like I wanted I couldn't sleep… Th-they punished me if I tried to refuse, no-now I won't live to see fo-forty or ever b-be able to have children..." Ronnie Anne piled up on the lies and megatons of fake tears streaming down her face. She had been giving a long sob story to the human rights activist side of the crowd, and it was working quite well with how convincing she could be.

"Jayzo would always request as many lambs as could be spared… he doesn't think lab rats are the best to test on," Lincoln said while he was on the animal rights activist side, pretending to be the son of a farmer here to discuss the next big shipment of test animals. Surprisingly it was easy to pass off with minimal effort. He guessed protesters weren't the brightest of people to begin with, and were looking for any excuse to be upset. Once he had the chance, he made his way off to escape from this crowd and regroup with his girlfriend.

"What the heck?! People! Calm down!" One guard noticed the people's rage increase. It appeared that their anger had evolved. One side was trying to inform the other side of what they heard and vice versa. The few who did not believe or agree with the lies they had been fed had started insulting each other, claiming they were trying to get favors from Jayzo, those accusations resulted in roughhousing.

"How'd I do?" Ronnie Anne asked her boyfriend as they took a seat at the nearby café, the same place that he had introduced his girlfriend to Lincada at, his female twin seemingly was refusing to appear until things calmed down.

"You did great… This place is going to turn into a battle arena now," Lincoln hugged his girlfriend with a laugh, both of them exchanging quick kisses.

"Ah, chaos… it really is fun when you can control people like puppets," the white haired boy added, and on cue, there it was, the protest beginning to erupt into a full blown riot. People were throwing things and some were going straight for Jayzo's building.

"Idiocy… emotions are fun, aren't they? There are only two worth anything. Anger…" Ronnie Anne started while her boyfriend held her hand.

"…and love," Lincoln agreed. They could see the three traitors of their mafia all pulled into the crowd and beginning to be assaulted simply for working for Jayzo, and trying to do their jobs of calming the situation down, as several more began to break into the building. The two were going to enjoy this riot, like it was an exciting scene from a movie.

"You know… we could use this distraction to get into the building to hunt down the last traitor. They should be inside," Lincoln pointed off to the side where the underground parking garage was. There should be a way into the building from there.

"Lame-o, you are a million times hotter when you think evilly," Ronnie Anne agreed, the two both getting up and beginning to head that way. Any rioter who got in their way got knocked down and would receive a quick harsh beating until they were unconscious.

"Oh my, what do we have here?" Lincoln realized as they entered the parking garage that someone else was in there. They had been heading for the way to get above ground to help the other guards.

"It's the fifth traitor! Wow, they came right to us, lame-o… This should be fun," Ronnie Anne scoffed at the amazing luck while cracking her knuckles. The topaz machinery ring wearing guard looked mortified.

"Now hold on there, pardner," they heard that all too familiar southern twang of an accent and the jingle of the shoes hitting concrete. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood there, wide eyed as the guard took steps back. Jayzo had come and he looked very happy, he knew they were here by watching on security cameras what was going on outside, since he always enjoyed watching protests from his office.

"Jayzo… sorry, you aren't a target at the moment," Ronnie Anne looked disappointed that they could not immediately go attacking the topaz leader.

"Are you crazy, Ronnie Anne? Of course he's our target! This man went near three of my sisters… So I'm going to tear his arms off and then batter his own face with them!" Lincoln laughed, that infinite rage building up into a terrible bomb soon to detonate.

"Boy, I've seen smarter pounds of beef that done been run over by a combine… you and your girlfriend are the best test subjects I've ever had," Jayzo laughed as he watched the security guard run the opposite direction, making an emergency escape. The young couple saw the Texan hit a button as the entrance to the parking garage was now closed off by a metal shutter.

"If you're trying to make us mad, then you're way too late," Ronnie Anne replied with a grin.

"You're calling us idiots? You healed us! That medicine of yours works like a miracle," Lincoln smirked. Jayzo however shook his head while brushing his blonde hair back.

"I know. You two are reaaaal healed up nicely, I can tell… I can also tell you've lost the ability to feel any emotion other than anger. See, there was some side effects we forgot to mention to y'all the other night," Jayzo stated, while he began to remove each ring from his metallic arms. Since he had no flesh for them to merge with, they could be removed at free will. He slid them all into his pockets.

"Side effects?" Lincoln felt his eyelid twitch.

"Yeah, ya moron. Didn't you see the video? That woman had everything go numb and then a short while later, she went crazy and murdered one of the two people that operated on her," Jayzo elaborated, referring to the cancer ridden army woman they had tested the Jianko regenerative formula on to begin with, "…Oh wait, that's right. I didn't show y'all the full recording from the test. That there is a grand tragedy!"

"You can't be serious…!" Ronnie Anne gawked.

"At smaller doses, the medicine is a lot calmer… but since you dummies finished all the doses, you have control over your bodies, but your brains are through… and metaphorically, your hearts," Jayzo looked satisfied, as if this had all gone according to plan, "There ain't a thing in the world that can save y'all now… that anger in you will keep buildin' each and every day, until ya eventually kill others, or better yet, kill yerselves!"

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked to one another, both gaining cocky smirks. They had not finished the full trial of Jianko regenerative formula. They both had three syringes left, the topaz leader having not realized there were two days left until all the medicine was finished, since they had not taken two doses when they first received the medicine.

"You got yours?" Lincoln asked.

"Course. Didn't want to miss a dose… I know what you're thinking, Lame-o. Let's do it," Ronnie Anne nodded. Their minds could do nothing to make them less mad. They were not going to give up until that revenge in their hearts was satisfied.

"Kids these days… gotta teach them all a reaaaal painful lesson," Jayzo watched the two begin to run straight for him, not caring at all for how strong the augmented arms the man had were.

"Tazer darts, fire!" Jayzo aimed his left hand, and the tips of the five fingers shot off. They all hit Ronnie Anne, mostly in her chest and stomach. She felt the sudden shock of electricity course through her body, forcing her onto the ground.

"And don't think I forgot about you, boy," Jayzo fired the other hands tazer darts off at Lincoln.

"I'm glad you didn't," the white hired boy willingly caught all the darts in his left arm, feeling the voltage begin to course through the left side of his body, but even that didn't stop his rage filled charge. He grabbed Jayzo's other hand.

"Why don't you enjoy some of your own medicine?" Lincoln quickly pulled out one of the syringes in his pocket. Jayzo stood, wide eyed, when he suddenly felt it get plunged into his chest and injected with his very own medicine. The shocked leader was forced to release his attack off of Ronnie Anne and Lincoln

"What the… where'd you get that?!" Jayzo demanded as his finger darts returned to him. He punched Lincoln in the face, sending him back and making him bounce off the concrete ground.

"Ouuugh…" The lone Loud boy coughed in pain, his nose bleeding and a tooth being spat out by him, "I'm gonna feel that one…"

Lincoln then felt Jayzo stomp on his chest, feeling his ribs rattle from the impact and crack in agony, as if an attempt to make him cough out his lungs happened.

"Neither of you two are leavin' alive. I can promise y'all that," the augmented man declared. Ronnie Anne tackled him from the side, giving him another dose of the Jianko medicine as she knocked him to the ground to get him off her boyfriend.

"For a big man, you sure are easy to shove around," Ronnie Anne laughed, suddenly feeling his cold fingers around her throat crushing her wind pipe. Jayzo pinned her against one of the concrete pillars.

"You're REALLY starting to make me mad!" Jayzo was going to enjoy watching the life drain out of her face. Lincoln got up before rushing over and jumping on Jayzo's back, grabbing him by the back of his head and slamming his forehead straight into the pillar, making him let go of the Santiago girl and causing a nasty gash on his forehead.

"Come on! You're about done getting your shots!" Lincoln laughed while hanging on, pulling out his second syringe. He jabbed it into Jayzo's neck, giving him the dose. Jayzo grabbed him and threw him on the ground head first, his head collided hard with the concrete before he fell over. The boy felt the blood trickling from his forehead that also stained his white hair.

"Ugh… my head…" Jayzo began to feel the overdose of the medicines side effects. Things were quickly becoming numb, the first problem with the medicine out of the few he planned to use against the couple.

"Ronnie Anne! Now!" Lincoln called out. His girlfriend knew what he wanted her to do, and she did just that, jabbing the last two syringes she had on her into Jayzo's sides, injecting them both at once. Jayzo turned around and grabbed her.

"You little punk!" He stomped her knee. Ronnie Anne felt her right leg bend inward with a shock wave of pain before suddenly she got punched in the jaw and knocked back.

"Gr… graaaagh…" Jayzo began to feel faint, like the world had been spun by a large hand. He was forced onto his knees, Lincoln standing beside him with a big, evil grin. He had blood running down the left side of his face from his head wound. The young boy had grabbed his mechanical left arm.

"You're going to need to go to the workshop after this," Lincoln stomped on the connecting joint between the mechanical arm and Jayzo's body, the topaz leader screaming in agony. His nerves were connected to the mechanical limbs. The Loud boy stomped several more times until the arm began to bend. Ronnie Anne came over and grabbed his arm too to help her boyfriend.

"One… two… three!" They both pulled hard, and wires began to rip out. The sound of agony howled out like sweetly composed music. The now disembodied arm went flying across the room, Jayzo lying there in pain.

"Wha… what in tarnation are y'all?!" He fearfully panted, looking at the battered two.

"You could say… we're the… Ruby Hearts," Lincoln chuckled. That was the best tagline he could make up for him and his girlfriend.

"We're going to fix Royal Woods, once you and Lazzerson are finished," Ronnie Anne was aware of her boyfriend's desire to change things back to how they used to be. The two could not help but exchange a high five.

"Now… why don't we deal with that other arm?" Lincoln began to approach Jayzo, when he suddenly rolled over and with his only arm yanked out a weapon, a snub nosed revolver, from his jacket. Lincoln only heard three gunshots in quick succession that stunned him.

"Lincoln!" Ronnie Anne screamed. Lincoln looked down. He didn't feel the bullets at first, but he could see a lot of blood spilling out from his stomach. He fell over onto his back. She saw Jayzo aim the three-inch barrel of the gun at her.

"Screw the rules…" Jayzo panted, and then he squeezed the trigger. Ronnie Anne closed her eyes in a flinching reaction. She heard nothing, and felt nothing. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jayzo staring off into space while lying on the ground, the revolver fallen onto the floor. The Jianko regenerative formula had finally taken full effect and had temporarily made him lose his mind, the first effect before he would go into full on anger.

"Lincoln! Lincoln!" Ronnie Anne wanted to murder Jayzo right now, but not when her boyfriend was gravely injured. She got beside him, shaking him awake.

"Am I dead yet…?" Lincoln coughed, blood coming out. He felt his girlfriend slap him.

"No, you idiot! You're going to live! You'd better live!" Ronnie Anne reassured as she got her cellphone out of her pocket. It was like their anger had been snapped with the dramatic shock they felt. She saw the last syringe Jianko regenerative formula held up by her boyfriend's hand.

"Give… this to Lisa… she'll figure out a way to save you from this anger… Can I ask you for a favor?" Lincoln questioned while Ronnie Anne had 911 on the line, while she was applying pressure to his wounds.

"We need an ambulance! Please hurry!" Ronnie Anne begged while giving their location. She doubted paramedics would be able to get to them fast with the riot going on outside, she expected she would have to carry him outside to get help sooner.

"Sorry, Ronnie Anne… I'm done for," Lincoln lightly laughed, coughing again. She put down the phone and took the syringe from him in anger, putting it in her pocket.

"Shut up! You're going to be fine! What would your family think if I had to tell them you died like this?!" The Santiago girl demanded while trying to keep him awake.

"They'd be upset. But... That's what I want you to do, Ronnie Anne. Tell everything to everyone; Mom, dad, Leni, Luan, Luna, Lisa… everyone. And also, ask them to find Lincada for me…Nora should have the info..." Lincoln begged, somehow able to keep a smile on his face even while he felt his girlfriend's tears falling onto him.

"How can you be happy?! You're hurt! Save your energy! You're going to be alright…" Ronnie Anne repeated. She felt those words feel emptier and less believable each time she said it. Lincoln took a moment to respond, groaning in pain as he felt his girlfriend adding more pressure to his wounds to try and stem the bleeding.

"I can be happy… because when I die, you'll all be free… I couldn't find one purpose in life to begin with until now… I'm sorry for being an idiot…" Lincoln apologized to Ronnie Anne. Feeling horrible that he would not be around to help her have even one child, or get married, or enjoy life together like they hoped to do. She could see he had tears in his eyes, recalling all the fun memories of his life with his family and friends. Despite his acceptance, he still had a hard time believing this was happening himself, he wasn't even going to get to participate at his thirteenth birthday party in a few days, or go with Lynn to play at the rosetta charity event.

"I'm going to… take a long nap now… g'night…" His eyes closed as she kept shaking him.

"Lincoln?! Lincoln?! Lincoln! No! Lincoln!"


	55. Stay Positive

It was by far the worst moment in the Loud family's lives. It had been barely a few days since the incident but it was remembered so critically.

Silence was now more common in the loud house. One morning, Lori's eyes fluttered open. She turned her head to her side to see Bobby asleep beside her in her bed. Ronnie Anne had called and informed him of what had happened, and he went straight to the emergency room to make sure his sister was alright, and there he found an entire upset family, and he was only able to comfort his girlfriend and his little sister. Bobby had never seen Ronnie Anne cry that much before. She had finally lost all control of her emotions, he took the news about what she had been doing with Lincoln relatively alright.

"This has to be a dream…" Lori murmured as she sat up and stood out of bed. One look in the mirror on the wall showed that she looked even more miserable than last night or even when the news first hit. She was thankful their parents let Bobby stay over these last few days to comfort her.

"It's supposed to be his birthday today…" She sniffed. The only reason she couldn't cry right now was because her eyes were dry from hours of crying with the family. Sadly, today was not going to be much different. Lori could tell that she was the only one awake at the moment. She did not care to fix her hair or change out of her pajamas as she made her way out into the hall.

"Everything's been done a dozen times already," Lori could see the completely spotless home. Everyone had tried taking their minds off everything by trying to distract themselves with chores or the likes. Luna had played that guitar until her fingers could not play anymore. Lucy constantly prayed to her dark overlords for help. Lynn broke her makeshift training dummy she used for football practice. Lola didn't care about her fashion for once, and Lana had not even had the heart to try and repair any damages to the house. Luan had not told a single joke like she had swore to a vow of silence, and Leni couldn't even start on any of the dresses she had planned on making after Lori bought her those supplies. Their parents were shells of their former selves, despite trying to hold out hope and insisting they should not give up by feigning their reassurance.

"We've cleaned his room a million times…" Lori rubbed her head as she entered Lincoln's room. The toys on his shelf had been cleaned and any that had been affected by age and were now brittle got special little cases for them, to ensure their safety. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. His closet was organized, even his comic books were now arranged alphabetically.

"Oh… hey, Charles," Lori saw the family dog sitting there beside her. She stroked his head, the animal being able to sense the sadness from the entire family, not being able to see Lincoln made him more upset, and the whining or occasional howling proved that he felt her loss.

"Guess it's good that Lisa was able to get Luna and Luan's rings off and save Ronnie Anne from that medicine…" The oldest blonde looked over at the silver case and the makeup kit beside that. With that last syringe of the Jianko regenerative formula Lincoln had given to Ronnie Anne, Lisa was able to manufacture a nullifying agent that made the drug get flushed from their systems within a day's time.

"I'm a failure… it's all my fault… it's all my fault…" Lori could only choke on her sobs. She had barely put up any fight when Jayzo offered them the Jianko medicine. She had left it up to her only brother and his girlfriend's judgment. She put a hand on her stomach.

"What kind of mom can I be if I can't even protect my brother…?" Lori was emotionally drained. All she wanted to do now was sleep and never wake back up. For someone most of the family saw as somewhat a second mother, she did not see herself as one anymore, but instead the fool who watched her brother destroy himself.

"Waaaaah!" Lily's cries rung out. Lori snapped out of that trance, doubting anyone would be able to wake up right now. The oldest Loud girl went into Luna and Luan's room, not caring about knocking.

"Hey there, Lily… are you okay?" Lori greeted the youngest sibling. She was seated in her crib, holding Bun-bun and crying having been awoken from a nightmare. Lori reached down and took her youngest sister into her arms.

"I know, Lily, I know…" Lori tried to soothe her sibling while leaving the room, thinking Lily could do with some breakfast. The downstairs part of the house looked cleaner than upstairs surprisingly. The infant loud was still crying lightly.

"Everything will be fine Lily… Everything'll be alright…" Lori told Lily, her heart not able to provide any emotion for her voice. The pregnant girl had not heard anything from Nora, nor had any of her siblings. Not a word from their co-workers or enemies alike.

"It's just… it doesn't feel real…" Lori said as she rested Lily in her highchair once she had gotten her to stop crying. All Lori had heard from the mafia at all was form the headline of the news everywhere, that Jayzo was facing multiple life sentences. Shooting Lincoln had opened up an investigation, and then more evidence built up, connecting the former PR mastermind to murder after murder, the investigation having presumed that Ronnie Anne and Lincoln were acting in self defense.

"Where is it…?" Lori muttered, trying to find the baby food in one of the cabinets. Finally she found a few of the jars of mush.

"Wincown!"

Lori was stunned by that one word that she dropped one of the jars, hearing it shatter on the counter top. She looked over to Lily.

"Wincown! Wincown, Wincown!" Lily reached for a picture on the wall. Lori did not say anything to that. Hearing her sister's vocabulary expand was a good thing to her, yet saying his name might just slash the wound deeper into everyone's hearts.

"Yeah, that's Lincoln, Lily… Come on, let's get you fed. It's his thirteenth birthday after all… he wouldn't want us to be sad," Lori rubbed her sibling's head, seeing Bun-bun sitting beside her. Lori had to try and stay positive, but it was next to impossible, and all this started because they all had been fighting over picking a vacation spot and Lincoln trying to get everyone presents to make them happy and stop fighting.

"…I can't tell what's worse… that you've technically died three times now… or that I can barely even remember that day?" Ronnie Anne was in the Royal Woods Golden Cross Hospital, in the intensive care floor, where all the patients in need of constant watch were kept. She sat in the dimly lit Room 492, with bandages on her face and hands. Lincoln lay flat in the hospital bed, with machines hooked up to him.

"Your family must hate my guts right now," she huffed. She barely could look at her boyfriend. She saw the feeding tube in his nose that was run into his stomach so he could be fed, the ventilator hooked up to his mouth that was helping him breathe, and the heavy bandaging on his head and around his entire lower stomach.

"Why did it have to be him? I should have gotten it a lot worse than just this," Ronnie Anne's grip tightened on her pant leg, looking down at her leg that now had a brace attached to it. The object was not too limiting, but she needed it in order to walk without crutches since Jayzo had fractured her knee.

"Um… hello?"

"Clyde? Didn't I tell you to get some rest?" Ronnie Anne turned to him. Clyde had been to this room many times. He left when she came so he could get some rest, even though it took some convincing.

"Yeah, but my dads say I should do what I think is right, being here is what I think is right… I heard he flat lined again…" Clyde spoke. His fathers had gotten the call from one of the Loud members who promised to keep them up to date on Lincoln's situation, for better or worse.

"Yeah… at 5:31am, they were able to shock him back again," Ronnie Anne held her head, feeling like she was going insane. The Jianko formula had been doing most of the healing for his body, so without the medicine in his body, he was going to heal a lot slower since his body was not used to doing it.

"The doctors haven't said anything, have they?" Clyde took a seat beside her, taking his glasses off his face. The news had not been good from the first day, but it seemingly only got worse and worse.

"The idiots said the same things as before… just when they said Lincoln had only a twenty percent chance of survival… they said it's now only fifteen percent," Ronnie Anne wiped her eyes. She refused to cry from the very first surgery. Lincoln's odds were barely decent, they had dropped far below that now. She had cried all her tears already in regret.

"Some thirteenth birthday…" Clyde shook his head. He knew what it had been like. Everyone informed him during Lincoln's arrival at the hospital and his trip to emergency surgery. The doctors had said he had only a forty percent chance of surviving, then a thirty percent chance of recovery when they lost Lincoln's pulse during the surgery for nearly ten minutes. They claimed the second flat line had lowered his odds to twenty percent, and every time he flat lined after that were just making his odds to recover even worse.

"Ronnie Anne… do you hate me?" Clyde suddenly asked out of the blue.

"…Not too much… you always try your best to make Lincoln and me happy. Also I know about your horrible dating advice," Ronnie Anne replied. Clyde looked embarrassed, recalling that he had tried to help the person he saw as a practical brother out with his relationship. It did not go too well, but somehow made the two closer as a couple.

"Sorry…" Clyde kept his comforting gaze on her, "We shouldn't be upset though… we should be smiling."

Ronnie Anne cast a soul-terrifying glare at him. "What is there to smile about this? The next time he flat lines or if anything else happens could be his last moments. Not only does nearly everyone in his family have to deal with the shock of him possibly dying, but also the shock of knowing about his and a few of his sisters' job for the mafia. Is that something to smile about? No! And not only that, the last thing he asked us to do was find his twin. But even now, I haven't got a single clue where to start!"

"C-calm down, Ronnie Anne!" Clyde understood her points, but he still insisted, "Because what's something Lincoln always tells us? That if anyone can pull off someone insane, it's someone in the Loud family… we should believe in him and never give up just because things aren't in our favor. I'm sure his family will realize that, too…"

Slowly convinced and calmed down, Ronnie Anne nodded, quietly looking down at her ruby crab and bird rings on her hands.

"We're going to keep working for Nora to help with the medical bills. Now that Jayzo's going to jail things are a lot safer…" Ronnie Anne was going to do her best to help the Loud family. She for some reason was more upset at herself than anyone else, always mentally accusing herself when she could, despite reassurance from her brother that she wasn't to blame. Anyone that had been working for Jayzo were taking the chance to scatter, and return to their normal lives since the opportunity had arisen.

"I'll help too," Clyde nodded in agreement.

"I know you will… I wonder if he can hear us…" Ronnie Anne looked at her comatose boyfriend.

"I can… but I sure wish you could hear me."

Lincoln sighed. In his astral state, he had done nothing but roam the hospital and watch his family sob over him, he hated every minute of it. Especially when each sister individually apologized to him, for the most minor of things that should have been forgotten years ago.

"Finally putting your astral projection to use?" he heard, looking to his right to Lincada nearby. The lone Loud boy looked away from his twin.

"Yes… just because my mind never rests, after all… it's creepy though. I don't feel like I'm dying… I just feel like I'm watching through a window," Lincoln stated. It was surreal to be watching himself on the verge of death constantly. The only thing reminding him that it was him in that bed was whenever his body flat lined, his ethereal form would instantly be forced back into it. Thankfully with that ventilator now doing the breathing for his body, he could roam with no time limit.

"Yeah… I tried to help stop you before things got out of hand, but…"

"I know you did. I really did lose my mind… I'm sorry for hurting you," Lincoln apologized. His twin shook her head, surprised that he was able to remember so much, considering Ronnie Anne's mind wipe after she had been cleansed of the Jianko medicine. She knew what he was thinking by his posture, the thought that he deserved every bit of this.

"You'd think helping Royal Woods become a lot safer by getting rid of Jayzo would make me feel a lot more content, but now I feel like there's a flame in my heart… if that makes any sense…" Lincoln suddenly felt his twin take his hand in hers.

"I know how you feel. I've been stuck like this for five years, after all. I'm in the Maple Leaf Hospital in Room 214," Lincada claimed with a happy appearance.

"And you're telling me this just right now? When I'm in a situation like this?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow, finding it to be quite the cruel joke.

"I didn't want you to see me in my state. I got hit by a truck when I was eight. I had only a little bleeding in my brain… until I blacked out. The doctors said I'll wake up soon… they told my dad that every month, and still are telling him that," Lincada explained, before poking his chest, "The only reason I could find you was because of that spiritual side you have, kind of like a pulse… they do say most twins can tell where each other are at all times."

"Fair enough… now can you tell me why you refused to tell me you were my twin? Back then, you pretended to be a ghost spawned from that drug I took," Lincoln requested, displeased. His female twin rolled her eyes getting irritated with this.

"I doubt they'll find me now anyway… But it's because you've met my dad already, so have some of our sisters," Lincada stated. Lincoln thought on that for a minute, before he bashed the back of his head against the wall.

"Please don't tell me… there is no way that your dad is Lazzerson," Lincoln refused to believe it. His twin looked toward the window of their hospital room.

"Funny how small the world we live in is, right? Dad didn't waste any time telling me that mom traded me to him for drugs… he's always been honest with me every step of the way," Lincada stated. Nurse Paula had been lying about trading the kidnapped infant away for two hundred dollars, and instead traded had her for drugs. Somehow it was less insulting to know this.

"You know, it's times like this I wish I could give myself amnesia. That'd make me feel even better," Lincoln suddenly felt her wrap her arms around him with a smile.

"Happy birthday, bro."

Lincoln had completely forgotten it was his thirteenth birthday today, it also meant it was hers as well. He reached up and put a hand on Lincada's, trying to calm down.

"Happy birthday to you too, sis…" Lincoln guessed that at least now he had plenty of time to think on how to deal with this new information, if he ever woke up or before his family tried to find Lincada first. If they did care for his last wishes, so far most of them had been followed through.

"Any ideas on how to survive this?" the white haired boy asked, as she let go of him and began to go for the door.

"Simply don't die," Lincada grinned, and Lincoln watched her vanish. He wondered where she spent all her time if she was in a coma like him. The teenager certainly felt more clueless than anything.

"You did what?" Ronnie Anne asked. Lincoln saw a nervous look on his best friend.

"L-Lynn said she owed me a favor, so… to try and cheer her up, I asked her to go on a date with me," Clyde repeated. The white haired boy had not heard it the first time during his talk with his female twin.

"You're just attracted to the Louds like a magnet, aren't you?" Ronnie Anne smirked.

"He-hey, I've already gotten a million times farther with Lynn then I ever have with Lori!" Clyde argued. Lincoln couldn't help but laugh lightly. He went over to Ronnie Anne and kissed her cheek, not that she could feel it. He went over and patted Clyde on the back, to no response not like he expected one.

"Congrats, Clyde. I owe you a lot of bro favors for helping my family, I'll make it up to you too Ronnie Anne," Lincoln smirked before stretching.

"I should go explore… You two make sure everyone stays happy for me," Lincoln requested, aware he would not receive a response, but he began believing that the determination to survive spiritually would help his body somehow. He decided to head out, able to roam freely in his ethereal form anyway.

"Oh gosh… all the movies I can sneak into for free…" he gasped, already knowing what he was going to do, and the plentiful amount of time he had left for it. Lincoln headed away, thinking when he came back, he would be buried under dozens of gifts from everybody wishing him to get well soon. The teenager wondered how long he would be in a coma for anyhow. The doctors had no idea after all, one thing he could be happy with knowing, is that his family already had decided they were not going to pull the plug on life support unless Lincoln became brain dead.

"None of you better forget about me."


	56. Awakening

**Authors Note: I just wanted to let you all know, that the review system is repaired fully now, at least as far as I am aware. But I can see the reviews now, all of them including ones posted during the period in which they were not able to be viewed, thank you all again for all your support, on both this story and my new one. I hope you enjoy, take care!**

The morning sun pierced the window quite intensely, the summer heat blistering worse than ever. Lincoln was alone in his hospital room. Normally everyone paid their visits later in the day.

"Well good luck," Lincada told her brother while being by his bedside. They both had no idea how long he had remained in this comatose state, mainly because neither cared to keep up. The days passed by like normal, and every one of them felt the same. Shortly after, the long white haired girl stepped back.

"Gruh…?" Lincoln's eyes opened as he coughed, feeling the ventilator choking him. He undid the attachment around his face and pulled the tube out of his throat, gagging and coughing. The teenager then grabbed the feeding tube in his nose and removed it.

"Ow… jeez, that felt horrible," Lincoln rubbed his throat while he was sat up in his hospital bed, he hated feeling all that down his throat. The teenager looked around.

"What's all this?" He wondered aloud when he saw an entire set of Overwatch comics and a dozen 'Get well soon' and 'happy birthday' cards on the table surrounding him.

"Presents, I guess," Lincada claimed, Lincoln rubbing his messy hair and then stretched his legs. The doctors tried to give him exercise by moving his legs in his slumber once a day, but despite the physical therapy, it did not do much to help keep his muscles and weight from wasting away a little.

"So… what? I was barely out a day?" Lincoln looked over the birthday presents. It actually made him feel a lot more uplifted, knowing he had not been in his coma that long.

"Oh hey, look, it's a nurse," Lincada pointed out. Lincoln looked over his shoulder to see a nurse standing there with her mouth and eyes wide open, staring at him like she had caught him committing a murder.

"Hey, would you please get me something to eat? I'm starved," the white haired boy requested.

"D…doctor! Doctor!" the nurse ran the opposite way. The young boy doubted that was a good sign.

"Maybe the cafeteria's closed… " Lincoln joked, his female twin shrugging. Lincoln tried to get out of his bed, only to fall face first onto the floor.

"Whoa! You need help," Lincada came over and tried to help him off of the floor. Lincoln grinned once fully back up on his quivering legs.

"I'm probably going to need to get used to walking again," Lincoln laughed lightly. He probably was too used to his astral projected form, which he had spent most of his comatose time in.

"15% was plenty for you, wasn't it?" Lincada smiled, glad to see him normal and happy again. Lincoln looked down at his hands and noticed more than just his two rings, but dozens. All his fingers had ruby animal rings on them, a lot were recognizable at that.

"Hey… these are Nora's rings," Lincoln realized, somewhat confused by this as he tried to remove them, yet they refused to budge.

"That's… concerning," Lincada gulped, but her male twin shook his head with a carefree attitude.

"Eh… I don't care. It just means a lot more co-workers will respect me," Lincoln reached down and removed the IV from his wrist, rubbing it sorely, until he heard the door to his room open.

"Mister Loud… you're… you're awake!" A familiar doctor spoke, Lincoln gaining a bright smile.

"Doctor Jeffrey! What are you doing here?" The white haired boy staggered toward the doctor, quickly gaining control of his walking pace. Doctor Jeffrey stared in awe, the young boy shaking his hand.

"What? You act like I was in danger. Three bullets aren't too much, right?" Lincoln jokingly said.

"Something's wrong here," Lincada commented, but decided to let him enjoy the reunion with the friendly doctor.

"Mister Loud, I'm here to help the hospital while it's short on staff. But just… you're awake! Walking and talking… does anything feel weird?" Doctor Jeffrey then shined a small light in Lincoln's eyes. His pupils were responsive.

"Well… I'm hungry and feel like I lost twenty pounds… Other than that, not really. It's my thirteenth birthday today, right?" Lincoln laughed while presenting one of the many cards he had received. He saw the nurse bring in a wheelchair.

"Fourteenth," Doctor Jeffrey corrected while the nurse helped Lincoln into the wheelchair. The young boy watched Lincada follow along as he began to get wheeled down the hallway toward the elevator.

"What do you mean fourteenth? And I'd rather use the stairs… " Lincoln confusedly replied, but thought he could do with the exercise of stair climbing.

"Mister Loud, you've been in a coma for a year. Your body was in massive shock from the three gunshots to your abdomen… and no, you aren't going anywhere near steps alone for another good few months if you're lucky," Jeffrey explained. The Loud boy could only stare, feeling like he had his mind broken from this revelation.

"Wow… we really should have paid closer attention. Guess seeing everyone you know and love cry over your body so often makes you forget," Lincada tried to lighten the mood, and failed miserably.

"I'll uh… I'll check up on you later," Lincada awkwardly bid him good luck, watching him be brought into the elevator. She then vanished, trying to let him absorb it all on his own.

"Wh… what? A year?!" Lincoln stood up while the elevator slowly made its descent down to the lower floors, the nurse making him sit back down while insisting for him to calm him down. They understood how shocking it must be to lose an entire year's worth of his life without realizing it.

"You've been comatose for a year," Jeffrey repeated to make sure he understood and did not need a trip to the psychiatric ward. The teenage boy held his head sorely.

"Would a lollipop make you feel better?" The nurse offered, always having several on her person in case of children giving trouble for tests. Lincoln took the candy in his hands. His stomach would take anything it could right now and he hoped sweets might help him get over the shock.

"So… where are we going?" Lincoln put the lollipop in his mouth.

"Right now, we're heading to the CT scanner, then after that we're taking you to X-ray, then we need to see the cardiology expert, and after that you'll be undergoing several neurological tests by me," Jeffrey listed the four tests that Lincoln was going to go through. The boy groaned, aware that this was required. He wouldn't want to slip back into his coma just because he was too anxious to get food before tests.

"Then can we go to the cafeteria after?" Lincoln meekly requested, feeling Jeffrey pat his head.

"Hahaha… yeah. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get as much as you can to eat," he agreed as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened wide and the nurse rolled the wheelchair out with Jeffrey walking beside it. Lincoln was going to try and relax, ready to get all these tests over with. He was wondering what all had happened in this year's time, to everyone.

"Are you sure he won't mind us coming to visit? You're not exactly anymore subtly dressed than before."

A couple approached the hospital; David, his hair being brushed back, and Maddison Badder with an even larger arsenal consisting of two bags full of baseball bats, like her collection had grown quite significantly.

"Jeffrey called us, and we're supposed to be his personal aids. Besides you're just scared I'll assault somebody," Maddison retorted. Her frog hooded coat looked rough like it had been through a war with the washing machine and dryer.

"Just glad Jeffrey called us first. How do you think he'll take all the news?" The chain smoker asked. Before they could enter the hospital, an off-duty security guard stopped them at the entrance.

"Sorry sir, no cigarettes allowed insi-ack!" The guard felt a sudden whack to the skull from a baseball bat that rendered him unconscious instantly. The Mad Batter was not waiting around. The two just continued inside, David long since given up arguing with his girlfriend over controlling her random assaults.

Once Lincoln had finished all the testing and was happily in the cafeteria of the hospital, sitting at one of the tables, stuffing his face with all the food he could. The hospital did not have the best food to offer, but he and his taste buds tolerated it.

"You know, there's a reason I told you to wait back there until we got your results back," Jeffrey irritatingly said while coming over to him, carrying the folder. Lincoln having sneaked out of the waiting area to get to the cafeteria.

"Sorry, but I didn't want my body to waste away anymore than it already has," Lincoln apologized, watching as the doctor opened the folder and lay it in front of him. As he took another bite of his food, the teenager looked it over as fast as his brain could.

"Come on doc, you know I can't read it. Can't you just tell me if I'm gonna be dead, back in a coma or fine?" Lincoln requested.

"Calm down Mister Loud. You've made a miraculous recovery, but you need to take it easy. Your body has not been active in a very long time. The minimal exercise you were given did not much to help keep you intact, you need rehab for at least a month," Jeffrey implored him to take it easy. Lincoln shook his head, giving that reassuring smile.

"Sorry doc, but I got a family waiting on me. I don't plan to spend an extra month in the hospital when all I need is exercise," the white haired teenager explained. Doctor Jeffrey couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"Ah… well the offer's there if you need it. Just don't overdo it, alright?" Jeffrey requested.

"Alright…" the teenage boy nodded, agreeing to this, but he still planned to push things slightly to try and get his body back into shape. Ronnie Anne would never let him live it down if he gave up like that, "Hey, by the way… where is my family?"

"…I forgot to call them," Jeffrey held his head, feeling dumb for forgetting to call a patient's parents while he could. The young boy snickered, watching the doctor head off to go find the phone number and call his parents.

"Wish I had my phone on me right now… " Lincoln sighed, presuming his family had taken his cellphone. Leaving it with the comatose boy at the hospital would not have done him much good, other than it probably being stolen by a nurse. Whatever happened with his family, his girlfriend and best friend, and all the mafia groups, Lincoln had to find out himself.

"Yoooo, bossssss!" A loud voice echoed. When the double doors got kicked open, there stood Maddison and David.

"Maddison? David? What are you two doing here?" Lincoln chirped, standing up and making his way toward them. He shook their hands, and Maddison pulled him into a tight hug, happy to see him awake once again and acting just like his normal old self, while David pat his back like he was congratulating him.

"We told Jeffrey to call us if anything happened. It'd be a great loss if our hero died," David declared, Lincoln irritated that Jeffrey remembered his co-workers over his actual family. Maybe it was personal preference.

"Things are a lot different now," Maddison stated. Lincoln finished his food and stretched, wondering what they meant by hero. He remembered running around torturing multiple people and received three revolver bullets to the stomach as his last memories.

"Come on, let's talk in the rehab room," Lincoln got up, insisting the two follow him since he wanted to go start exercising to take the numbness and weakness off of his body, and the closest gym was the physical rehabilitation facility.


	57. Position Of Power

**Authors Note: I wanted to thank you all for getting this fic near 50,000 views. It'll most likely hit it in a few days, and I am going to work hard to try and prepare a treat for all you dedicated viewers. I'd also like to apologize if it seems like the quality of this story has gone down, several have informed me of this and blamed it on my super sentai loud house crossover, and frankly I'm not able to judge that. But either way, I am sorry if my fic is worse in some ways.**

Lincoln was trying to lift weights in the empty physical rehabilitation room. David was sitting beside him, while Maddison was occasionally making the white haired boy switch the size of weights, not hesitating to throw him at the twenty-pound ones trying to force his muscular recovery along.

"Man… sounds like things have been far from easy…" Lincoln sighed. The smile he had from being alive did little to help alleviate the tension. His arms felt like they had been stretched beyond their limit, his muscles wanting to rest already, but that was not going to stop him from working more.

"Yeah, well.. you took out Jayzo. Both sides are going to go grabbing what they can… problem is, we don't have much man power, so Lazzerson pretty much nabbed nearly all of Jayzo's turf," David explained. Jayzo's multiple life sentences he received, having narrowly avoided the death penalty, because he was now stuck with regular prosthetic arms instead of the robotic kind all were thanks to Lincoln and his hard work.

"So everyone sees me as a hero because I got shot by Jayzo and scared all his crew?" Lincoln wondered, the weights being yanked from his hands and tossed carelessly aside, Maddison grabbing him by the back of his medical gown and then tossing him to the floor face first.

"Push ups! Do as many as you can until I get bored of watching you struggle," the Mad Batter ordered.

"Yes, ma'am…" Lincoln groaned and began to do as ordered, beginning to do push ups like a new recruit in the army that had upset his sergeant.

"But yeah! You and your lover sent a big message out there that Nora knows and recruits only the best people, so Lazzerson took the turf, but his men were too afraid to move in on us," Maddison claimed. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne's efforts stopped things from going a lot worse than ever. Out of all the mafia groups, the ruby animal mafia was relatively the smallest, so having a terrifying message like that out there did a lot in the long run.

"I guess that much is good… how has Nora been?" Lincoln then felt a sudden enormous weight drop on his back, crushing him. It was one of Maddison's two baseball bat filled bags.

"Keep going or I'll give you one of my energy pops," she laughed. Lincoln did not want to be drugged yet, he would at least like to go one day before people tried forcing narcotics into his system. He hated to imagine all the doctors had pumped into him, but the teenager was not even going to take pain killers right now. He couldn't afford to rest, despite his lower bodies agonizing pain.

"That's kind of a problem. We don't know how Nora is, because… well, she's gone," the chain smoker lit another one of his cigarettes, not caring about hospital policy of not smoking within the building. They already had one security guard unconscious over it.

"Go-gone? Did Lazzerson get her?" Lincoln requested concernedly, while wondering where his family was. Not a single one had shown up yet. He hoped Doctor Jeffrey had not forgotten about calling them again.

"She just up and vanished. We searched everywhere for her; her home, her office, even her favorite bar, but nothing gives…" David stated, "The last person who saw her was three months ago. It was… what's her name… Leni, I think."

"Leni? Why would she be anywhere near Nora?" Lincoln then felt the other bat filled bag drop onto his back, once again crushing him to the floor. He was barely able to lift up the first one, yet did his best to try and continue doing the push ups.

"Dunno, but Nora gave her a letter and told her to give it to the others… Sorry for not telling you right away, boss," David apologized.

"Come on boss, you were only in a coma for a year! You couldn't have gotten that weak," Maddison added. Lincoln was not even strong to begin with, but at least she sounded like she only was minimally insane right now.

"Why are you two calling me boss? Oof!" Lincoln coughed, feeling the bags get taken off him. He laid on the floor, panting in relief. He wondered how the Mad Batter carried those two bags, let alone one.

"Because you're our boss now," Maddison declared, crouched in front of him. The white haired boy looking to her boyfriend, wanting to know if this was true.

"S'true, Lincoln… Nora came by and gave you her rings while you were out of it," David said. The teenage boy had nearly all of Nora's rings, not counting his own. He looked at all the animal ruby rings. They felt like a message of terror to him more than control.

"She couldn't have left me in charge. There's no way," Lincoln saw the chain smoker pull out a piece of paper and give it to him. The young boy climbed back into the nearby seat to regain his energy, and began to read it.

"To whomever cares to read this, it has come to my attention that one of our rival mafia leaders have been arrested due to the actions of one or more of our own group. As result of this great achievement, I've decided to take this chance to move on with my life. Anyone else who wishes to leave may do as they please. Otherwise, the new one who is to take over in my place, is no one else but Lincoln Loud. He accomplished more than I, and deserves his place of power in the group."

"I don't get it. All I did was get shot! How does that qualify me to be the leader of a mafia?!" Lincoln was flabbergasted by this information. He knew it was Nora's hand writing, having seen it many times before. It did not help that Nora had snuck into his room while he was in a coma and forced these rings on his hand that he had no idea how to take off.

"You scared five traitors and ripped off Jayzo's arm. Look, let me put it in perspective for you," David coughed before getting up, Lincoln not noticing what Maddison was doing to his legs but barely caring, "Lincoln, you made him break the rules. Jayzo always hated them and barely abided by the turf war rules to begin with. You and your girlfriend scared him into such a situation, that he actually felt threatened enough to break them in order to win… in other words, he knew he was going to lose, 'cause he was a cowardly rat. Even Nora has never cornered or scared another rival mafia leader like that."

"Wait… does this mean… I'm debt free?" Lincoln wondered if becoming the mafia leader cleared up his million dollar debt.

"Yeup! To tell you the truth, we've lost about… 70% of our members when Nora bailed. Without a boss, we're just spinning our wheels, working odd jobs for the business," Maddison informed him. Right now they were a very tiny mafia at most, maybe less than sixty members, which was like a swarm of mosquitoes compared to Lazzerson's significant growth.

"Lazzerson being able to push more drugs got him a lot more members…" David added. Since Lazzerson had taken nearly all of Jayzo's turf, it gave him the ability to move drugs all through Royal Woods, and the police were barely able to do anything, not even arrest one member with a lot more turning up in that one's place. Drug addicts were sadly very common, and those who weren't addicted became addicts when offered the right stuff even once.

"I'm regretting surviving now," Lincoln exhaled, "Can't I just… I don't know, give one of you these rings? I'm not cut out to be a leader! I'm only thirteen!"

"Fourteen," Maddison corrected.

"Fourteen," the young boy groaned.

"We've been able to go back to doing more charitable work though. It's not much, but it's still there," David spoke, "Thanks to Luna and Luan, we were able to kind of start on making a nicer name for our group, by running our first fundraiser for…"

"Luna and Luan? They can't be anywhere near this! Why are they anywhere near this?!" Lincoln was not going to stand for this. However, when stood up, he almost fell over.

"What the… did you put weights on my legs?" The young boy asked. Maddison had strapped two black pads, one on each leg, which had smaller weights in them, each one giving the tie on weight bag another ten pounds, both bags were fifty pounds strapped to his legs.

"Yeah! I usually wear those on my arms, but since you look like a baby barely learning how to walk, you need them more than me," the red haired lunatic claimed. Lincoln held his head, wanting to go back into his coma now.

"Sorry for this boss, but… Well, all of your family is with our group now," David sighed, "They forced their ways in, and we needed the help, so we couldn't argue. If it makes you feel better, I think your parents are only wearing rings to show their support."

"Wha… what do you mean all of them?" Lincoln looked ready to have a mental breakdown

"I mean all of them literally forced their way into our group. Heck, some of them even brought new members on board along with them. Ronnie Anne brought that Clyde boy and Lori brought that Bobby creep… I dunno, they both seem too enthusiastic to me. I don't like them," David reiterated. Lincoln looked at his stomach as if he had to see the scars and feel how painful and sensitive they were to the touch to remind him he was indeed awake.

"I'm not being our leader," Lincoln said he tried to walk away from them, but the weights on his legs were making him pour all his effort into taking one step at a time, "I'm sorry, but I can't!"

"It's not a choice up to you, Lincoln. Nora chose you, and if you don't take control, things are going to get worse for everyone, your family included," the chain smoker stated.

"I can't order my family around like that. What if they get hurt? What if they hate me now? What if they see me as a monster?! What if, what if…" Lincoln began to hyperventilate, tearing up from imagining them all trying to survive this mafia life style for a year, terrified that one wrong call from him as leader would lead to harm or worse, death.

"Lincoln!" Lincoln heard two more familiar voices, and his eyes gazed off the ground to see Ronnie Anne and Clyde. His best friend was wearing a yellow shirt and without his glasses for once, and his girlfriend had her hair free instead of done up in its normal style and wearing a purple tank top.

"Clyde? Ronnie Anne? Why are you two smaller now?" Lincoln questioned in notice, before he got tackled hard by both of them into a hug, and knocked to the floor.

"Smaller? You've grown a lot, lame-o!" Ronnie Anne claimed. The white haired boy had not thought about that, guessing he probably had a growth spurt sometime during his coma. It was hard to tell since no one had seen him out of that bed in a long time.

"Bro, I can't believe you're awake! And on your birthday! It's almost like a very coincidental miracle," Clyde stated, the two feeling Lincoln wrap his arm around them tightly. Ronnie Anne felt her receive a quick kiss from Lincoln. She never thought she would be happy to be given one by surprise and not hit him in return.

"What happened to your glasses, Clyde?" Lincoln quirked as their group hug broke apart, and they got back up. David and Maddison stayed out of the way of this reunion.

"Oh, I got contacts… Lynn kept breaking my glasses and my parents didn't like that," the African American boy sheepishly confessed.

"Heh… hope you've been treating my sister well," Lincoln laughed, fist bumping him.

"Wait… uh, who told you about us?" Clyde asked confusedly, the young boy rolled his eyes.

"Lucky guess," he replied.

"Oh… but, uhh… about three months ago, Lynn kind of dumped me, because of… well…" Clyde couldn't finish his sentence, looking ashamed.

"Your sister found him too clingy. I'll give him credit for tolerating the first twelve baseballs to the face, let alone the next fifty," Ronnie Anne finished the sentence for him, impressed at how much unintentional abuse Clyde withstood.

"Oh, Clyde…" Lincoln sighed. He half expected that, but he was glad his best friend had at least had a temporary relationship for any amount of time, and it did probably help keep Lynn preoccupied and out of her depression, somewhere. "Well, you did alright… though let me tell you, if I see a shrine to Lynn in your house…"

"I know, I know… She already gave me that talk," his best friend motioned him to relax.

"So… do you still want me to call you Lame-o, or do you want me to call you boss now?" Ronnie Anne kept close to her boyfriend, neither wanting to inquire about why he had weights on his legs.

"Please, never call me boss. Lame-o's a compliment compared to that," Lincoln shook his head, "Do you know where my family is? They should have been here way before you guys. I'm not complaining, it's nice to see familiar faces."

"I was gonna ask you that," Clyde claimed, surprised that the entire Loud house wasn't swamping the young boy.

"Sorry. I told Doctor Jeffrey not to call anyone else beyond these two," David apologized. He had done that so their new boss could take in the news, not wanting him to be in a shocked daze when all his family came to see him.

"Of course you did, David. I'm surprised Jeffrey listened to you. I mean, you've stuck a lot in crazy," Ronnie Anne annoyingly retorted, aggravated her boyfriend did not have a say in whether his family was immediately called or not.

"No problem there, I've had a lot of things stuck in me," Maddison gave a thumbs up. David held his head.

"I think it's time I get discharged. Let's go find Jeffrey. After all, he is an employee of mine," Lincoln smirked, thinking he could put the boss position to use to at least get out of the hospital way sooner than planned. He was not sure what he was going to do as leader, but he had to figure it out, but had plenty of time to, his first priority was to catch up on everything he missed.

"Alright, come on. Thanks for helping him, you guys. We'll take it from here," Ronnie Anne thanked Maddison and David, and they brushed it off as nothing but a normal day. The Santiago girl held the lone Loud boy's hand as they headed off to go find the doctor, Clyde following with a glad face. The two had rushed straight over when they got the call, Ronnie Anne had been taking a bath when she got the call, Clyde had received the call when he was trying to help clean his house.

"Sheesh… I've missed a lot, haven't I?" Lincoln asked, looking at Clyde's hands to see a ruby eagle ring, a snake ring and a deer ring. Just where did Lincada go, he then wondered. The two then said the same thing to him.

"Try not to have a heart attack."


	58. Reunion

Lincoln exited the hospital. Ronnie Anne and Clyde were beside him, and Maddison and David were right behind them. Lincoln was now in an orange vest on top of a yellow shirt, and black jeans. it felt nice to be outside for the first time in a year, though he felt more or less like a vampire to the sun.

"So head honcho of the mafia… who knew getting shot was all it took," Lincada spoke, sitting nearby on a trash can. Lincoln remembered that one of his final requests when he thought he was going to die was requesting his close ones to try and find out about his missing twin. He wondered what the progress on that was, but he would inquire about it when the chance arose.

"It's about time I go home. Hopefully Doctor Jeffrey will actually call them this time," Lincoln declared.

"Hopefully," Ronnie Anne nodded in agreement. She was going to be furious if he did not.

"I won't interrupt your reunion bro. I'm gonna go with David and Maddie to get to work… we'll see you there, boss," Clyde bid Lincoln farewell. His best friend stared in annoyance at being called boss.

"Good luck to you, Lincoln," David said as he and Maddison wished their young mafia leader the best of luck before beginning to follow Clyde.

"Right… So since my entire family apparently has joined the mob scene, do I need to know anything new about them?" Lincoln asked, trying to get used to the weights on his legs but gradually doing better, they saw a taxi beginning to pull up Ronnie Anne having called it in advanced. Her boyfriend might be her boss but right now was probably not the best time to tease or play with him, despite how great her heart felt to have him back.

"Lori is still recovering, but she's doing pretty good, last time I checked. She and my brother are living at your place now," the Santiago girl stated while helping her boyfriend into the back of the taxi, before taking the seat beside him. Once given the destination, the taxi began the long drive there.

"Recovering?" Lincoln asked, trying to not show his internal panic of worry that Lazzerson might have hurt his oldest sister. The teenager was starting to realize his mind kept thinking the worst thing immediately, instead of presuming that maybe there was a recent small accident.

"Did I forget to tell you? She had a really bad infection running through her, it was around her eighth month in her pregnancy. They gave her a C Section to help take stress off her body. She's still recovering from the surgery," Ronnie Anne explained. It wasn't as bad as it sounded but it did take its toll on the oldest Loud, "Congrats on being an uncle, by the way."

"It's gonna be like kind of having a twelfth sister," Lincada appeared between her twin and his girlfriend. Lincoln was irritated, but was happy to hear he was now an uncle.

"Is it a boy or a girl? …oh, why am I even asking? I know it's a girl," Lincoln claimed. If Lori and Bobby were having anymore children after the first, there was a good 95% chance that they would all be female.

"Yep! Glad to know you haven't lost that ever so precious superpower of foresight you have," Ronnie Anne laughed.

"Hey, you're the one who wants twenty children," Lincoln reminded her, having not forgotten that terrifying promise, "Just hope by then we're out of the mafia life…"

"You sure seem eager enough to have thirty," Lincada chimed, her male twin shaking his head rapidly. She was glad his neck muscles were still intact. Lincoln expected to meet his niece when he got home after his family mobbed him.

"Uh… ri-right… Ronnie Anne, did you ever get anywhere searching for my twin?" Lincoln requested, wondering if the information Nora had left was helpful. Lincoln knew where his female twin supposedly was after she informed him that one time when he fell unconscious.

"Yes and no," Ronnie Anne sighed, rubbing her head.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln chirped, noticing Lincada gone once again. He found it very annoying how she popped in and out so freely without care, but she seemed sensitive to certain conversations.

"See, after a million leads, we wound up back at child protective services office…" Ronnie Anne spoke up, "They lost track of her apparently. Lincada has been through at least a dozen homes, and…"

"Wait what do you mean? She was adopted by Lazzerson and has been in a coma for the last five years at Maple Leaf Hospital in room 214," Lincoln claimed. Ronnie Anne raised an eyebrow , having forgotten he had some weird communication with his female twin. Ronnie Anne bit her tongue at first, before responding.

"I hate to tell you this Lincoln, but… she was only in Maple Leaf Hospital for one year. I don't know about the Lazzerson part, but she made a recovery a long time ago. She apparently lost the ability to breathe on her own from the accident, so she needs a portable ventilator for the rest of her life," Ronnie Anne declared while recalling the most of the information that she could that made sense to her. Everything else led to dead ends, it had really been annoying to say the least.

"Thanks, Ronnie Anne, for looking for me… guess I'll try to talk to Lazzerson about it," Lincoln tried to remain positive, but learning that Lincada was lying to him again for some reason upset him on all levels. The only thing making him happy anymore was looking forward to seeing his slightly grown family again.

"Anytime Lame-o… I still feel bad for letting you get shot like that," the Santiago girl apologized. Her boyfriend laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" She glared.

"Sorry…" Lincoln spoke between chuckles, "It's just you look so cute and sweet when you look apologetic."

"Cute?! Sweet!?" Ronnie Anne tried to reaffirm that bully toughness she had. Lincoln just kept laughing even after the three hits to his arm.

"What? It's a compliment! Heh, I swear, half the time you're secretly wishing for me to surprise you with a kiss or a hug," Lincoln kept the teasing up, not caring about the punches. Judging by Ronnie Anne's flustered blush, he was on point with those correct guesses. Lincoln was surprised at how much she missed him.

"Shut up, Lame-o!" Ronnie Anne retorted, Lincoln just smiling as he pulled her close to him with a hug, thinking they should relax since they were going to be riding a while until they reached his home.

"Ah… my abusive relationship… and I wouldn't have it any other way," Lincoln hummed, despite his girlfriend pouting while being entangled with him. Ronnie Anne shut her eyes. Being this close to the Loud boy was nice to her, and being able to feel his heartbeat was comforting. That year without him was the worst time of a lot of people's lives, she hoped his family would handle the news of his return calmly, but doubted it.

"I can't believe they discharged him already!"

"The doctor said he was coming straight home."

"Do you think our bro'll still be mad?"

"Dunno, don't care, just want to finish the cake!"

"What if he's changed?"

"He's the boss now. Maybe we should treat him like it…"

Since today was Lincoln's fourteenth birthday, everyone in the Loud House was preparing gifts to take to him at the hospital. With messages of 'Get well soon' 'We love you' and 'Best wishes', they would leave them there for only a day at most, out of the thought that maybe he would wake up and get to see them.

Lily was the only one really not understanding anything that was going on. The three year old infant was wearing a yellow shirt with a pair of denim overalls. In the front pocket of the overalls was Bun-bun, the stuffed possessions upper body being stuck out from the pocket.

"What happening?" Lily spoke. Her vocabulary had grown a lot better, as much as her teeth. Her blonde hair had grown as well she had it in a small ponytail now, though the rest of her hair was just a mess.

"Lincoln's coming home," Lucy answered, being just as happy as the rest of her family upon receiving the news. Lily gained a bright smile on her face.

"Lincoln back?!" The three year old hugged her gothic sibling. Lily had been worried since she had seen their parents crying earlier, the youngest Loud being concerned for the news at hand, but now she was seeing everyone worried about how Lincoln would be and how he would react to the news.

"He's here!" Luna exclaimed, almost like she was seeing a ghost walking toward their home. She couldn't believe it, surprised at how taller he was now. But then again everyone in the Loud house had grown and changed through the past year.

"Wait, I got just the thing to welcome him back with," Luan hummed. She had been prepared.

"I still can't believe they expect me to be able to run this… I have no idea how to deal with Lazzerson at all," Lincoln sighed, Ronnie Anne patting his back.

"Calm down, worry about one thing at a time, Lame-o… or in your case, worry about the five current things before you start worrying about the next twenty," Ronnie Anne reassured him it would be fine. He had survived this long in the mafia, and had escaped death's grasp twice now, he would figure a way out to handle a glorified drug lord.

"I guess you're right…" Lincoln sighed in agreement, grabbing the doorknob to his house and opening it.

"Hey everyone I'm bac…" Lincoln received two pies to the face instantly, he barely got half of his sentence out. Ronnie Anne snickered a little, having gotten some of it on her from the impact of the hit.

"Luan!" Leni and Luna shouted, now regretting allowing their comedian sister to welcome their brother back with a straight forward surprise prank, especially when it was his birthday today and his first day out of that coma.

"Sorry, Lincoln," Lola apologized while trying to help wipe the mess off him.

"Oh jeez…" Lana said, trying to help her twin. Lincoln made them to step back while he wiped it off his own face.

"Coconut flavored. Thanks, Luan. I owe you one," Lincoln smiled, glad to have something with actual flavor to it rather than the bland hospital food. He wiped some off his hand and onto her nose. She was glad to see him happy.

"Ahh… no need to return the 'flavor' anytime soon," despite the many groans, Luan gained his laughter with that pun. The fourteen year old then felt someone on his leg.

"Lily? Is that you?" Lincoln picked up his toddler sibling into his arms.

"Lincoln! Lincoln!" Lily happily spoke while wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hahaha… wow… you've grown so much in just a year… I just wish I could've seen it," Lincoln said, disappointed in himself for his time lost. The youngest Loud member held onto him tightly. The young boy soon felt nearly everyone hugging him, even his parents. Ronnie Anne smiled at the scene before her.

"Lincoln, baby… We're sorry for letting you get into danger like that. We should've done more to help," Mr. Loud sighed. His personal guilt was quite obvious to see, the man felt partially like a failure of a father. Lincoln could see the rings on everyone's hands. He looked down to Lily, gently holding her palm and viewing her fingers.

"Lily…" Lincoln weakly said, seeing a unicorn ruby ring on her pointer finger, it ma not be a real animal but it was close enough.

"Where's Lori?" The teenager tried not to dwell on it. He could see presents all over the table, with cake and a hastily made banner on the doorway reading 'Welcome Back', but Lori was not anywhere in the room.

"Her baby kept her up all night, so she's sleeping," Lynn answered. Lincoln broke the hug, but kept his youngest sister in his arms because she refused to let him go.

"Let's go surprise her then, Lily," Lincoln offered.

"Okay!" Lily nodded happily. The Loud family let the young boy go upstairs to get to Lori and Leni's room. Ronnie Anne was just happy the reunion was able to go so well.

"It's almost like Jayzo was a living nightmare. Everything now is like the middle of a dream."


	59. Reunion 2

Lincoln opened the door to Lori and Leni's room, Lily hanging onto him while riding on his back. There Lori was, lying in bed. Her blonde hair had grown a little more, and she had no makeup on right now. She slept soundly in her light blue nightgown.

"Wow… she looks a lot more like mom now," Lincoln thought, seeing a crib nearby. He presumed it was where his niece was at the moment. He was not going to go waking them up. He remembered when Lily was born. Just getting near the crib somehow woke her up crying like an alarm.

"Lori? Hey Lori," Lincoln gently shook his older sister while Lily climbed off his back and stood beside him. Lori's eyes opened, and she sat up in shock at what she saw with her eyes barely adjusted.

"Lincoln?! …I'm having another bad dream, aren't I..?" Lori spoke, looking very depressed at the thought that she was having one of her common night terrors.

"Hey, come on. I haven't seen daylight in a long time. It doesn't mean I'm a ghost," Lincoln replied. Lori felt herself get pulled up by him and Lily.

"Lincoln back! Lincoln back!" The youngest Loud girl repeated. The new mother was unable to believe it herself, but she had not seen Lily this excited in such a long time, even during her own birthday party.

"Lincoln… oh my gosh, it's really you," Lori hugged him tight. Lincoln smiled as he felt something wet on his cheeks, which he knew was her tears. It made him feel bad for worrying everyone like this, but all he could do now was make them happy that he was back and alive.

"I missed you so much… How have things been with Bobby?" Lincoln was a lot more used to the weights on his legs now, but he still needed to sit down on her bed since his limbs were tired. The teenager looked skinnier than before and was taller, but he hoped to get more meat on his bones soon enough.

"Bobby has been the best dad ever… Lincoln, let me introduce you to someone," Lori got out of bed and went to the crib, reaching in and picking up her baby in her blanket, the infant was only a few months old with curly black hair.

"Lincoln, meet your niece… Lobby Santiago Loud," Lori introduced him to her and Bobby's daughter. Lincoln could tell by her looks that the little girl certainly took a lot more after her father. The oldest Loud girl let her little brother hold his niece.

"Awe… She's so precious," Lincoln claimed while stroking Lobby's hair filled head.

"Have you been good to her, Lily?" Lincoln asked his baby sister.

"Yeah! I want be best auntie," Lily nodded. The teenager was happy to hear it. He then realized that Lori had her phone out, and he could guess what for.

"Taking pictures?" Lincoln lightly laughed. He hated to imagine how full her phone memory was with pictures of her child.

"Nah… it's a lot easier to just record everything," Lori shook her head. She had even upgraded her phone's memory storage for the purpose of recording more. Lincoln did not mind. He paid attention to gently cradling his niece in his arms, aware that his sisters had been worried that Lobby would never get to know her uncle, beyond tales of his life before it ended abruptly.

"Guessing she's a night owl," Lincoln guessed.

"Yes…" Lori nodded. Her first daughter rarely slept at night. She was thankful to have everyone else around to help her, especially during her recovery, but Lobby would keep crying until she was in somebody's arms. That was just how she was.

"So how's it feel to be the boss now, Lincoln?" Lori asked, seeing her brother look depressed at that single topic being brought up.

"Feels like the whole world is out to get me… again… Everyone is involved from our family?" Lincoln hesitantly asked, he had seen them all wearing rings, but confirmation was still a nice thing to have due to insanity, the white haired boy did not even know where to start with Lincada's newest set of lies she had fed him.

"Yeah Lincoln… when everyone heard the truth, they all wanted to help out in making Royal Woods a better place… I still can't believe it myself that you're our boss now," Lori claimed. It was still all shocking to her. She was not going to work lately, but she planned on returning soon.

"I'm not your boss. I'm just your idiot of a brother," Lincoln corrected her as he returned Lobby to her mother.

"Lincoln, don't talk about yourself like that… Why don't we go downstairs and let Lobby rest," Lori offered to go with him to get some food, in the party she had yet to realize was being held. Lily was jumping in excitement already.

"Luna's got her speakers prepared," Lucy scared them all from appearing out of nowhere. Lily had started to learn a lot of why the gothic was scary to her family, now that she was older and roaming around more.

"That sound's good… Oh, right," Lincoln replied, aware Luna most likely had prepared her best song for his return, but seeing his gothic sibling reminded him all too well what he told Lynn a year ago, that he promised to talk to his younger sister about her love for him.

"I'll meet you guys downstairs. I want to talk with Lucy privately," the white haired boy said. Lori nodded, letting Lily hold her hand as they made their way off to let the two have their privacy. Lincoln led Lucy out of Lori and Leni's room so they wouldn't wake little Lobby up.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Lucy followed him to his room, the white haired boy sitting on his bed and rubbing his sore legs.

"I wanted to talk to you about your feelings for me… " Lincoln claimed, surprised at how clean his room was. his family had taken great care of it in his time away.

"My… feelings?" Things felt tense already. She was not looking directly at him now, or at least he presumed, not like he could see her eyes through her pitch black hair.

"You've grown a lot in a year… Guess your dark overlords are taking good care of you," Lincoln laughed lightly. Lucy had grown by at least a good few inches, and hair had grown two inches longer than the last time he saw her. She had transitioned out of her black dress and was now in a leather black coat that had a lot of chains dangling from the buttons, not that she had them done up ever. Underneath that was a black and white striped shirt to match her forearms' covers.

"No more than usual… " Lucy sighed. He decided to chop to the point.

"Lynn told me a year ago that you loved me… a lot more than a sister," Lincoln stated.

"Yes…" Lucy nodded, "Sorry… I guess you're going to tell me it's stupid and gross right?"

"Not really… considering how things are lately, that's pretty normal, compared to our whole family being in the mafia…" Lincoln shook his head, trying to be gentle and honest about this, "But look, I love you too… a lot… and I always will love you, and you aren't ever going to lose that."

"Guess you're going to tell me about why my love isn't real?" She guessed.

"No! I think everything about how you feel is genuine… I just think you're presuming it's about loving me more than a brother… a few told me before that I'm acting more like a second dad. You might just be attaching to me because you can relate more to me," Lincoln theorized. He was not good at psychology, but he was going to do his best to alleviate matters.

"…I'm sorry, Lincoln, for torturing you like this… I guess not having many strong emotions makes you presume the best or the worst… " Lucy was going to listen to her brother's words. Maybe she could now start to view him completely differently.

"Oh, trust me. You haven't tortured me one bit… Nobody could. I've been out for a year, remember?" Lincoln joked, before hugging her, "Come on, I'm sure everyone is getting sick of waiting for me."

"Alright…" Lucy, now that the private talk was done, let Lincoln lead the way, and the two left his room to get to the kitchen.

"Oh, right. I forgot to warn you watch out for the…" Lucy couldn't finish when her brother felt a tripwire at the top of the stairs grab his ankle.

"Oh… I hope this has a safety set up… " Lincoln internally screamed, falling onto a pillow covered skateboard that began to rattle down the steps before landing at the bottom. Thankfully he was able to stop the skateboard from going any further with his hands.

"Whew… hahah… good one, Luan. You really gave me a good scare there," Lincoln laughed, looking up to see a party ball above him. It broke in half, and in seconds he was covered everywhere in glitter, and then a crown plonked painlessly onto his head.

"No, that was us," Lana popped out from around the corner with Lola beside her, seeing their only brother seated on the skateboard trying to absorb everything.

"This isn't the type of vampire I like," Lucy commented when seeing her brother sparkling from all the glitter. the twins helped him up.

"Wh… what is this for? Did I step on another one of your dolls?" Lincoln apologized if he did. Lola could be very scary when angry, as far as he was aware he had not made any careless steps today.

"No! You missed your last birthday… " Lana had a tool belt wrapped over her shoulder, ready for anything that caught her interest to be taken apart or put back together. Her blonde hair under that red cap had barely grown, and it was dirty and messy. Lincoln was surprised that neither twins' missing tooth had grown back yet.

"And missed out on so much more from the last year, so we're going to treat you like a king like you should have been treated on your thirteenth birthday," Lola claimed, wearing a more frilly pink dress and turned her pearl necklace into two bracelets around her wrists, and a new bright golden chain necklace in its place around her neck. Her tiara had gotten a big upgrade to a queen's crown.

"Uh… thanks…?" Lincoln quirked as he looked at the two twins. They had both grown quite well. However, he was going to track glitter all through the house now until he changed and washed off. He would vacuum up the mess afterwards, unwilling to insult the twins' hard effort to set up the elaborate trap.

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen," Lincoln happily said, ready to enjoy his birthday party. He didn't care about the gifts. He was just happy to be back home and cared about seeing everyone happy and healthy.

"…sorry for all this," Lincada stared from outside the window out of her male twin's sight. She knew he was upset over finding out about her lies. She had listened in on his conversation before, but she would talk to him when his celebration was done and dusted.

"Lazzerson is the least of your problems… hope you can handle things when they show up… enjoy our birthday, bro."


	60. Reunion 3

**Authors Note: Let me just say before anything else, I'm sorry that many found my last few chapters far from good. And I apologize if this one is bad too, but it has frustrated me because I have rewritten this chapter multiple times, this is the 7th re-write of it, the one I am most satisfied with. The fic is 2/3rds of the way done, I hope you all are enjoying it. When this fic does reach the end, I will inquire with several reviewers to act as beta readers to judge what they think is the best of three fic ideas to go with. Either way have a great day, and take care.**

"Come on, Lincoln! You really are a lot slower now," Lana said as she and Lola dragged their brother to the kitchen, and he saw it all. The kitchen had a lot longer of a table set up and prepared. Luna had her tall double speakers to the side, ready to go when the time came. The presents were going to be the first thing to be gone through before anything else.

Lucy walked on past to take a seat with the rest of the family, having a smile on her face. The birthday boy saw Ronnie Anne asleep on the couch when coming to the kitchen. She had passed out from how tired she had been after working hard. The boost on energy from hearing her boyfriend was alive had finally ran out.

"Honey, why are you covered in glitter?" Mrs. Loud saw Lincoln coated in glitter and a crown on his head. He somehow had not gotten any of the shiny material in his eyes. His luck had paid off for once.

"An early present, apparently," Lincoln answered, but insisted he will live with it. He took a seat at the table. Seeing all his family around made his heart warm. Despite the rings, the changes they all had undergone, and the fears in his head, it all felt like they were having a normal day.

"Here, Lincoln! Please open mine first!" Leni begged. Her hair was still long, but she had kept it cut to a medium length after a freak accident in the kitchen that had lit part of it on fire. Afterwards, she thought it might be best to not have it longer anymore.

"Alright. I'll open everyone's, don't worry," Lincoln took the brightly wrapped box, while giving his second oldest sister a look over. Leni certainly looked different. She had a weird star patterned baby blue dress with shorts on, and she had gotten a lot taller so much so that she somehow surpassed Lori. Sadly, it resulted in a good few daily hits to the head from bumping into door frames.

"I've been practicing a lot at fashion design… this is a little older, but I think it's one of my best with something extra in it," Leni described, the white haired boy taking the top of the present off after he had carefully unwrapped it.

"Oh, wow…" Lincoln pulled out a white suit. It looked so smooth and well put together, almost like it got taken straight from a pile of snow. There was also a pair of Leni's sunglasses in it, given as a precious memento.

"Leni… thank you. I love it," Lincoln was not a fan of suits, but he began to adore this one. What he was going to do with the sunglasses still had to be decided, but Leni had plenty more sunglasses, including a pair on her head to replace them.

"Now you can look the part as boss too, bro," Luna commented, seeing him rest the first two presents aside. He would try the suit and sunglasses on later, guessing as mafia leader he would have to try and look the part.

"Now if only I could be as excited about it," Lincoln looked back at Luna as she presented the gift to him. Luna had certainly gotten closer to her dreams, performing a few concerts while simultaneously getting her name out to the world more, working a few fundraisers had helped out immensely as well.

"Just relax," Luna reassured. She looked not much different now. The main noticeable difference was her nose piercing and the flaming guitar pick tattoo on her arm. Lincoln imagined the hilarious reaction their parents had to seeing her get those.

"Thanks," Lincoln nodded, agreeing to try and not be as worried on his birthday. He opened the present, and upon looking inside, he was surprised.

"What the… is this some new guitar?" He pulled out a form of acoustic guitar that looked to have been folded five times. His sister hit the button on the side, making the acoustic guitar spring to normal. It was meant to be very compact and portable, but he found it weird.

"There's also something extra from me in it," Luna claimed. Lincoln saw a shark tooth stuck in the strings of the guitar. He took it, staring it over in awe.

"What's the shark tooth for?" Lincoln requested since it was the main thing making him curious. He was bad at guitar, but this was a good excuse to practice more for whenever he was bored.

"Every guitar pick makes a different sound. I use a gold dollar for mine now," Luna explained that the shark tooth was the best pick she could find to match her brother. After all, he was the great white shark of the mafia now. Lincoln rested those out of the way, and then hugged Luna.

"My turn!" Luan eagerly insisted as she handed over a polka-dot wrapped present. He wondered if this was going to be safe. He thought Luan had probably grown the least out of the other sisters, but she had finally gotten her braces removed.

"Hope it's not another pie…" Lincoln murmured. Somehow she always had an unlimited supply of them. The only upside was that they at least were all delicious. No one wanted to get a pie that tasted like murky slime.

"…uh?" Lincoln quirked an eyebrow upon removing the lid, as nothing sprung out. He looked into it, seeing several comedic props. One that got his notice was a fake flower that was meant to be filled with water and squirted into the face of a person foolish enough to sniff it.

"You're actually going to give me this?" Lincoln questioned his comedian sibling. The flower was precious to her. It was one of the earliest gags she pulled off. She always wore it as a memento of those times. On the other hand, she had upgraded to a water squirting microphone.

"Yeah. It doesn't get much use anymore. I even keep forgetting to take it with me," Luan stated, "I figured you'd get a lot more out of it as a good luck charm than I did with laughs,"

"Ah… thanks, Luan," Lincoln smiled. He did imagine quite a few uses for it.

"Ah!" Everyone screamed in surprise when they saw a dozen fake snakes pop out from the box and fly everywhere, as well as the rest of the comical props, one of the oversized clown shoes bouncing off the young boy's head.

"Guess the 'joke's' on me," Lincoln got his fair share of groans off that one beyond Luan's proud approving thumbs up. Lincoln predicted he had gotten Lola's and Lana's gifts already, which was the crown used to treat him like a king today.

"Here you go, boss," Lori teased him while presenting his gift.

"For the third time, please don't call me boss," Lincoln demanded while popping the top of the gift off and took out the gift, which was a familiar cellphone.

"Wait… this is the phone I got you for the gift exchange," the white haired boy stated, seeing the oldest Loud sibling present that newer phone he had seen her use earlier to record him and his niece.

"Yeah, but I got the newer version a month ago," Lori claimed, presenting her phone for comparison. Lincoln could see barely any difference at all, but he guessed money was not really an issue for his family anymore.

"Thanks… what happened to my last phone though?"

"Oh… I put it in your room, but Charles bumped into the shelf and knocked it off," their mother claimed that unfortunately it was broken. Lori thus got the idea from that to give her old phone to him.

"Well, thanks a lot anyway. I appreciate it," Lincoln put the new phone away in his pocket. He saw Lucy step beside him.

"I'm guessing this is going to scare me, Luce?" The teen asked, not seeing a present from her. He half expected it to be a goat skull from one of her many rituals. He was half-scared to ask how big her occultism had grown in a year.

"Well, that talk we had kind of took it off from even offering it…" Lucy leaned over and began to whisper into her only brother's ear. Lincoln stared off, wide eyed when he heard all that.

"Well, uh… Maybe in twelve years and if Ronnie Anne agrees… maybe," Lincoln responded, before receiving a hug from Lucy. That was a good enough gift to him. Once the exchanged hug ended, he saw Lynn come to him next.

"Here, Lincoln. Figured you really could use these," the sports loving girl claimed. He could tell that she had a significant height growth, and that her muscles' size had increased as well. Lincoln guessed she was lot better at basketball now, with a lot of training. Her hair was a lot longer now, too.

"Thanks Lynn, sorry things didn't work out with Clyde by the way," Lincoln apologized, feeling bad that his friend's relationship with his sister failed to survive longer than a few months.

"Yeaaah… I realized it wasn't going to work when I broke his nose playing hockey," Lynn claimed, feeling bad for how often she had hurt Clyde. How he kept coming back without a care about it did nothing but make her feel guiltier.

"You'd be amazed by how resilient he is," Lincoln laughed. That statement could be applied to him as well. Inside the present, he saw a pair of stylish-looking sneakers with a yellow stripe running around the sides in a random pattern like a bright neon glow stick.

"Well… this is a lot better than what I have on me now… These aren't even my clothes I'm wearing," Lincoln confessed. Nothing he was wearing at the moment was his. They all were given to him by doctor Jeffrey's co-worker nurses and other medical professionals, and they all frankly felt too tight for his taste, especially the shoes and the weights strapped onto his legs.

"Eh, you'll live," Lynn smacked his back, rattling him slightly. Lisa came over to him next. Her appearance certainly had not changed much, and her height had barely grown a few inches, yet somehow her glasses had gotten thicker, and she now had a white lab coat on top of her green short sleeved shirt.

"Lisa… Wow, if you keep growing this slowly, Lily will be bigger than you next year," Lincoln joked, hearing the youngest Loud girl giggle and clap from nearby.

"I'll gladly be short and smart rather than long and… Unknowledgeable," Lisa claimed, having almost accidentally insulted Leni, not that the second oldest sister noticed. Lisa presented a flask to her brother that contained various colored liquid.

"What is this?" Lincoln questioned, and then shrugged. He began to drink it, hoping that was what he was supposed to do with it.

"It expels all medicines within your system. I thought it only be logical to give you it as a safety precaution," Lisa stated. Her gift to him was making sure the rage inducing medicine was not in his system anymore, or any other substances that could affect him and his physical and mental states.

"Oh… well, I appreciate it a lot Lisa," Lincoln thanked her, rubbing her head and messing up her hair slightly. Then he saw Lily come to him, holding Bun-bun.

"Here Bun-bun back," the littlest Loud held the stuffed bunny to her brother, wanting him to take it back. She knew it was his most treasured possession before he gave it to her.

"Aw… Thanks Lily, but Bun-bun is all yours now. He's helped a lot of us, and it's his job to keep helping you now," Lincoln turned down taking Bun-bun from Lily, placing the stuffed animal back into her overalls' front pocket, "You take care of him, and he'll take care of you."

"Okay…" Lily nodded, understanding. Bun-bun had done a lot for her while her brother was gone. Their parents were happy at the scene before them. Despite the mess, seeing everyone in joy was all that mattered.

"We have a present for you too, Lincoln… it was going to be given to bobby, but he turned it down because he wants to work for it, so we were going to give you it on your last birthday, but then that incident occurred…" Mister Loud started. Personally he liked the Santiago boy a lot, always hardworking, with a big heart full of spirit to make Lori and his child happy.

"You could say it's a tradition we were trying to start," Mrs. Loud finished. Everyone was confused, Lincoln seeing his parents both place two rings, with diamonds embedded on the top of them, into his hands.

"Don't I have enough rings on me…?" Lincoln was surprised. His hands were full of rings already, but these two rings had no style to them.

"A year after I and your father started dating, our families decided to surprise us… they gave your dad his grandfather's ring and my grandma gave me her ring…" Mrs. Loud explained. The white haired boy realized that neither of them had their wedding rings on. The only rings they had were ruby animal rings, his father's a cow ring and his mother's dove ring.

"You're giving me your wedding rings?! Wh-what for?" Lincoln stammered.

"In case something happens to us… we wanted to leave you these, since you and Ronnie Anne were working hard to make Royal Woods better… We think you two will be able to use them, one day... I wish you had told us everything to start with. We would have gladly helped," Mister Loud claimed. They wore these ruby animal rings to show their support for their children.

"Sorry about that… If it makes you feel better, my debt is gone," Lincoln claimed, looking at the wedding bands. He was going to gladly accept the gifts, if it was really what they wanted him to have. He was grateful for everyone. The white haired teen wondered if he would tell Ronnie Anne about the rings when she woke up.

"Yes, but the thing that takes away from us feeling better, honey, is that now you're our boss," his mother retorted. Not having a million dollar debt to the mafia over their heads was great, but having their son as their boss of the entire mafia was another.

"I'm not anyone's boss!" Lincoln repeated, irritably. Even his parents were seeing him as having the leading role in the ruby ring mafia.

"Come on, just relax, Lincoln… it's alright, none of us are mad if you're our boss," Lori insisted, Lincoln glaring at her.

"Yeah! Bro the boss… it sounds catchy," Luna smirked.

"The king boss!"

"Lincoln is going to be the best boss!"

"I'm sure he won't be too 'bossy'."

"I'll follow his new authoritarian position as long as it doesn't impede on my research."

"I will obey him like he was one of my dark masters."

"Lincoln be great boss!"

"He's smart enough to be the boss."

"Can I please go back into my coma now? Like maybe for another month," Lincoln mentally begged with his face buried in his hands. He heard the sound of Luna's speakers being turned on as she got her electric guitar ready.

"Come on! It's a birthday, not a funeral! Let's rock hard enough to make up for missing his last birthday!" Luna declared. Everyone agreed, Lincoln more than glad to hear as long as it kept him out of this boss subject. He expected Ronnie Anne to wake up from this soon.

"I love them all… But I don't think I can handle being boss to any of them…I don't have a choice I guess."


	61. Back To Work

It had been a week since Lincoln's return home. He spent every day with his family, enjoying it and catching up on everything he had missed over the course of one year. Today, everyone was at their main mafia headquarters, except for Lori, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.

The building was buzzing with uneasiness. The workers had not had an actual boss in the past year. They were wondering if their boss was going to be kind or cruel. The main fear was everyone losing their fingers and their lives over even the most minor of mistakes.

"Are you sure Lori is healthy enough to come back to work?" Bobby had three rings on his left hand. When he heard a year ago what Ronnie Anne, Lori and Lincoln had been through. He was more than happy to volunteer to help out when he learnt how well this job paid. It seemed only natural to work at it to help support his child.

"She's been healthy enough for a while, Bobby… and you know mom is more than happy to watch Lobby. Lily of course will help too," Luna insisted for him not to worry. The Loud mother's workplace had no mind about workers bringing their children. They had so much staff and it wasn't like they ever had enough doctors there to need them all at once.

"Alright Luna… I'll trust Lori," Bobby reluctantly nodded, but could not help but be nervous. Lucy and Lynn were seated at a table nearby, just playing their Gamejoy's against one another. They were the only four in this part of the base.

"Where is everyone else anyway?" the rocker Loud questioned.

"Oh, Lisa's down in the lab, and Lana's trying to fix the air conditioners…" Lynn claimed, a bit irritated, because the question had made her lose at tactical frogs, a game she and her gothic sibling enjoyed a lot.

"Lola is off trying to recruit more members, like usual. Leni, Clyde and Luan are trying to clean up Nora's office for Lincoln," Lucy finished. they offered to help, but the others insisted they could handle it, but their former boss's office not being cleaned in a near year's time, in case she returned and got upset at things being moved sounded nightmarish.

"Great, so just a normal day… Except now our first day with our brother as new boss," Luna was still having trouble believing it herself. Everyone had their position and role in the mafia now and they had filled in perfectly, she just hoped Lincoln could fill in as leader just as easily.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite tiny rival mafia," they heard the familiar voice of Lazzerson. He stood there with a big grin across his face. He had grown a lot taller in a year and had put on a lot of weight it seemed.

"What are you doing here?!" Lynn demanded, leaving her Gamejoy on the table as she and Lucy approached alongside Bobby and Luna.

"Relax, loves. I've been invited over for a friendly meeting," Lazzerson certainly seemed to have gained a more relaxed view on life, having two blunts in his mouth now and a dozen lip piercings.

"Invited? By who?" Lucy asked as they began to hear footsteps against the floor, clacking and echoing loudly.

"Sorry for being late," Lincoln's voice rung out. Everyone stared at him in shock and awe. Lori and Ronnie Anne followed their new boss inside.

"Whoa bro… Is that you?!" Luna gasped. There stood Lincoln in his white suit, his orange undershirt and new shoes. He had Leni's sunglasses on his head, the fake squirting flower Luan gave him in his front pocket and the shark tooth from Luna dangling around his neck on a necklace.

"Wow…" Lynn stuttered, "You look so… different."

"You actually look confident," Lucy claimed. Lincoln stretched with a smile.

"I didn't have a choice to be boss… so I figured I at least had to look professional," the white haired teenager approached, seeing Lazzerson turn to him.

"Well, talk about a promotion, little guy… Lemme just thank ya for getting rid of Jayzo and letting me take most of the turf," the drug lord laughed, pulling out a small cigar case that was gold plated and opening it.

"Here, have one. I got plenty growing now. I don't have to hold back on a daily limit," Lazzerson insisted they all take one if they wanted. The cigar case was filled with just marijuana. Lincoln took one out, and then just crunched it in his hand and sprinkled it over the floor.

"I'm not old enough to smoke," Lincoln claimed. The emerald leader looked disappointed.

"Such a waste… you could've just said no, y'know. Someone worked to the bone to get this to grow," Lazzerson shook his head, closing the container and putting it away in his pocket. Lori smiled, knowing her little brother did that on purpose.

"Why did we invite him here again, Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne asked her boyfriend while holding his hand.

"Sorry but I needed to talk to him… alone. Come on Lazzerson, let's go to my office," Lincoln answered while telling everyone to wait here, seeing all the new employees staring at him trying to get a read on him, unable to tell whether he was kind or not.

"Alright we'll be here…" Lori reluctantly agreed, watching the two mafia leaders head off. Bobby coming over and hugging his girlfriend Ronnie Anne staring down at her hand with a new ring on it.

"A ring that represents the spirit of promise and forever bonded love … sure feels a lot more embarrassing to wear this," the Santiago girl murmured before going off to grab something to eat Lynn following her since Luna was now playing with her Gamejoy against Lucy.

"How's it feel to be the boss? I forgot that feeling forever ago," Lazzerson, whether it be the drug addiction of his or time itself washing his mind of the memory, had long since forgotten the feeling of being a new mafia leader. The stoner could have sworn that the experience felt exhilarating.

"Feels like I've been handed the keys to a two hundred year old haunted mansion," Lincoln answered. They walked all the way upstairs to the office Nora once owned. Lincoln grabbed the doorknob and opened it.

"Huh? Lincoln! Whoa, dude," Clyde was the first to see Lincoln, surprised at his attire. The white haired boy hugged his close friend.

"I know… try not to have a heart attack yet. I've got more news later," the new mafia leader stated, his friend nodding.

"Hey boss! How'd we do with the cleaning?" Luan was happy to see her brother looking more mature than before, while not losing his character. It made the comedian happy to know that year long coma was not too effective on him.

"I'm not your boss. I'm just the leader of the group you happen to be a member of…" Lincoln reiterated, trying not to lose it before he rubbed his eyes sorely in annoyance.

"You look like a model! I can't believe how great you've made the suit look," Leni gleefully complimented her brother while holding a box with something in it.

"Thanks Leni…" Lincoln replied, feeling embarrassed at all the compliments given to him, "uh, what's that?"

"Oh, it's a cat I found in the hall to the fire escape. I think it fell through the roof over the emergency stairs," Leni answered. One look in the box and Lazzerson began laughing, whereas everyone else took a few steps away from Leni.

"Leni… that is a skunk," Lincoln calmly informed his second oldest sister, realizing that somehow she had wrangled a skunk into a box.

"What? Aw, but he's so adorable," Leni looked disappointed.

"Our luck really 'stinks'," Luan punned, getting everyone but Lazzerson to groan.

"Well, uh… you all did great cleaning. Luan, Clyde, go help Leni release the skunk outside," Lincoln requested. Those two nodded, but Leni seemed sad to say goodbye to it, but understood. The three left the newly cleaned office, closing the door behind them.

"Mind if I ask why ya were late Mister Loud?" Lazzerson took a seat in front of the desk. Lincoln never thought he would be the one behind the desk, in the big and soft swivel chair.

"Sorry. I had to get a haircut… and buy some weights," Lincoln apologized. His hair needed to be trimmed though to be restored to its original style. He also had more weights for the ones tied to both of his legs, as they had been working wonders for his leg muscles recovery so far.

"What did you want to talk to me about? Or did you just want to celebrate your new power and threaten me that you'll stomp me out," Lazzerson requested. Lincoln groaned, staring down at the new ring on his hand for some confidence, one of the rings his parents had given him, Ronnie Anne having the other.

"I wanted to talk to you about your daughter," Lincoln stated. The stoner lay back in the chair.

"Be specific? I've got four kids and they're all girls," Lazzerson requested. Lincoln groaned again, guessing the time of ease was over and it was back to having nothing but insanity and bad luck.

"One that looks like me," Lincoln spoke in irritation. He had not seen Lincada in five days now. The last time she had appeared lead to nothing but a very volatile argument. Lincoln did not plan to confront his parents about the secrecy of his female twin, not until he met Lincada in the flesh.

"One that looks like you? Think your girl would be jealous…" Lazzerson chuckled, not caring about the tense atmosphere.

"I'm serious. I have a missing twin… and that nurse who kidnapped her pointed me your way," Lincoln explained, thinking despite his pot addiction, they could be honest about things with Lazzerson, no matter how much he claimed it was for medicinal purposes no one really believed it.

"I don't know where they are now, but I know none of me kids look like you… You ever know what it feels like to have everyone hate you?" The emerald flower mafia leader asked, seeming to be sucked into the atmosphere now.

"…No… though I know what it's like to want to die so you don't burden everyone around you…" Lincoln replied, "If that's close enough?"

"Exactly. Let me tell ya a little story, boy… The story about a man who didn't have a kid to his name, but had a beautiful wife and great friends. That man was named Lazzen," Lazzerson started, taking both blunts out of his mouth, since they were next to gone, and putting them out on the desk, Lincoln making a mental note to cover the scorch marks with a coaster or something of the likes. Not even a day in this office had passed, yet already his desk had taken some form of damage.

"One day, he just wanted to go out to one good night out on the town with his wife, his best friend and his wife as well. He had an awesome job that paid so well. He took a risk to open his own bar with a loan. Before Lazzen knew it, that bar became a chain of bars across a country."

"Wow…" Lincoln was listening well to this, "What happened to him?"

"That night out was the last good day Lazzen could ever have. An eighteen wheeler flipped and crushed his car. His best friend was dead, and the rest barely survived… a few days later, Lazzen went to visit his late friend's wife. She was scared that no one could take care of her kids, so Lazzen decided to adopt them as a final thanks," he rubbed his head, a migraine coming on fast, "Sadly, it was a mistake."

"Why?" Lincoln quirked an eyebrow. He felt his own heartache somewhat from imagining the tragic events unfold back then.

"Those girls ruined his life. His wife was furious and would not understand why he would take care of someone else's children. Soon enough, Lazzen was dumped by her for his brother. Twice more heartbroken than before, the man had to turn to someone or something to survive. He met a kind man at a park who gave him Miracle Grass. When he smoked it, it made everything a million times better…" Lincoln could guess that this story was far from over, but guessed it was good to learn about Lazzerson's tragic history, it might even help in taking him down later.

"But for some reason, those four girls saw him as a devil when he started taking those drugs. They were happy when Lazzen was miserable, but they were angry when Lazzen was happy. They never thanked him once for welcoming them into his home. It was like they believed he ruined their lives, and they pinned the blame of their dad's death on him, and wanted to see him just suffer. One day, a fight broke out, and Lazzen was shot in the side with a twelve gauge by the oldest girl of the siblings. That girl took her little sisters with her, and they left him for dead and vanished from his life," Lazzerson breathed rapidly.

"I…I'm sorry… is that why you smoke all the time?" Lincoln questioned. The drug lord shrugged.

"I don't know, kid… that pain somehow kept getting worse and worse every day, the worse it got the more weed got smoked, so Lazzen thought it'd be best for his old life to be gone."

"…What'd you do?" Lincoln saw him light another blunt.

"Simple… I found my wife and my brother, and made them know what I went through, before I left them to burn alive in that crappy apartment they lived in… Then I found the man who sold me the pot in the first place and partnered up with him. From that day forward, Lazzerson was born."

"I'm sorry… so none of your girls had long white hair or buckteeth?" Lincoln hated to pry further into the past. Lazzerson shook his head while running his hand through his hair. The man whom the drug lord had partnered up with had died years ago from age, and left him in control over it all.

"No… They were all ginger. Whoever that idiot was who pointed you toward me, then she probably isn't wrong, but I told Nora this a lot; I don't control everyone in my group. Yes, I'm able to manipulate them easily, but most of the time they do their own thing," Lazzerson explained that Lincoln's lead was most likely on the point, but it was too blind for him to be of help for.

"Please, I need to find her… Something's going on, and I don't think I can live with myself if she's in danger and I did nothing to help. Is there any way you can help me?" Lincoln pleaded. The drug lord grinned.

"Maybe… but what's in it for me? I want to ask you that much kid. You're the leader of this whole sha-bang. What can you offer for me?" Lazzerson requested. The white haired boy had no idea. He noticed one of the desk's big drawers open with something sticking out.

"Uh… are you a drinking type?" Lincoln realized a ton of whiskey bottles that were left behind from Nora. She must have stashed it all over her office so no one could take them without her notice, he found it ridiculous personally.

"Yeah, but I'm sure not into drinking contests," Lazzerson replied, seeing about six bottles of whiskey get placed onto the desk in front of him.

"Sorry there's a lot down here, but uh… you can have all the liquor in this office that you can find if you'll help me out here, and I'm sure there is a lot." Lincoln explained his offer for the trade.

"Huh… Well Mister Loud, this is the expensive stuff too… A little info for hundreds of dollars of booze? I'll get right on it," Lazzerson agreed. Lincoln was going to offer to shake his hand, but the pothead had began chugging one of the whiskey bottles until it was empty.

"Guess recalling history sucks," Lincoln muttered. He was not an expert on the cost of alcohol, but as far as he was aware, whiskey was not too pricey. He presumed that Lazzerson was just desperate to cloud the memories as fast as plausible.

"You're telling me… 'grats on the promotion, kid. I'll have one of my cronies come pick the rest of it up, have one of the guards hold it outside." Lazzerson said while taking another bottle, beginning to leave. Lincoln exhaled in relief, glad that he got lucky on that front, he rested his head into his hand. Thinking this was the first deal of many to come.

"Why can't you just tell me the truth, Lincada?"


	62. Future Engagement

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were in the office, both relatively happy. He had explained what Lazzerson had been here for, and the tension from that passed. The Santiago girl felt a lot better having her boyfriend around, and without having to lie any longer to his whole family or her brother was a grand bonus itself.

"You really just want to tell someone, don't you Lame-o?" The black haired girl requested. Lincoln took his hand in hers.

"Come on, don't you feel a lot more motivated now after this? I sure do," Lincoln asked. His girlfriend smiled with him.

"I feel way more than motivated! Life felt a lot better when I saw you standing. This kind of just gives me more reason not to make that same stupid mistake," Ronnie Anne claimed. The two began to make out, exchanging passionate kisses. Sometimes, they just wanted to do this for a while. Unfortunately whenever they tried, someone interrupted it.

"Hey! Sorry, I got stuck helping carry in a heavy bo… uh… did I come in at a bad time?" Clyde had entered the office without knocking. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne separated, both blushing, but they half expected the interruption at this point.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it," the mafia leader replied, his best friend closing the door behind him. The Loud boy had texted him to come over so they could tell him the great news privately.

"Oh, and don't worry. The skunk didn't spray anybody… Leni's got some spooky good way with animals," Clyde reassured. No one was in need of a tomato scrubbing. He was just impressed at how well the second oldest Loud girl was able to have animals trust her so easily.

"Well she might not be smart but I guess animals can sense how innocent she is," Ronnie Anne guessed. She believed animals could sense how a person was, and with Leni being weak minded but sweet hearted, it was expected that animals would get along with her easily.

"Do you want to tell the good news, Ronnie Anne, or should I?" Lincoln offered. His girlfriend punched him in the arm. She had grown a lot stronger over the year.

"Lame-o, don't put me up front because you're too nervous. It was your idea after all," Ronnie Anne replied. Her boyfriend lightly laughed, not able to argue there. Clyde was just glad to see things semi-normal here.

"So one of the gifts I got was from my parents… they gave me their wedding rings for the day. It's a new tradition they're trying to get started…" Lincoln started. Clyde raised an eyebrow, seeing the two wearing wedding rings now. They stuck out a lot compared to the ruby animal rings.

"So why are you wearing them?" Clyde questioned. Normally that was the type of important item that would reside safely in a box somewhere hidden away in a home, awaiting the day it would be use. They both looked sheepish to answer, as if they were both too shy to announce anything, but they wanted to trust someone by telling them the news.

"He talked me into it," Ronnie Anne pointed to her boyfriend with her thumb.

"Hey! You kissed me for thirty minutes straight when I did the proposal," Lincoln replied. That did a pretty great job at making her look embarrassed. Talking about what they did at all in the relationship made the couple shy and uneasy.

"Proposal?! Dude, what? Aren't you two a bit… I don't know, young for this kind of commitment… or is there going to be another Loudiago born?" Clyde wondered if the friend made a mistake of some form. Hearing they were engaged was a bit shocking to him.

"A Loudiago?" Lincoln chuckled. That sounded catchy to him.

"No, Clyde, nothing like that. We just wanted to… uh… well, know what it was like?" Ronnie Anne sheepishly smiled. Her friendship with Clyde had improved a lot over the year, but it was surprisingly not that big of a difference.

"Kind've… I wanted to make things up to Ronnie Anne. When I got those rings, I only could think of promising her I wasn't going anywhere by proposing for the future," Lincoln happily reached over and held his girlfriend's hand. The wedding rings were not exactly meant to be used for engagement purposes, but they really did not care.

"Yeah, Lame-o… even if it isn't happening for another few years, you looked ready to faint doing that proposal," Ronnie Anne grinned. It had caught her by surprise and even after the explanation she could not help but feel nervous, but she was supporting it, glad to know how dedicated Lincoln was to their relationship.

"Well that's great! …I think? Err… anyway, congrats… you guys want me to go so you can get back to frenching?" Clyde gained a piercing glare from the Santiago girl. She did not enjoy the joke.

"I wish I could spend all day kissing my girlfriend too, but that's what we did three days ago… But right now, Lazzerson's kind of mentally gone so we need to take the chance to make a move," Lincoln turned the computer monitor on his desk toward Clyde, letting him see a map of Royal Woods.

"Did you do something to him during your meeting?" Ronnie Anne asked her fiancé, but the teenage boy shook his head.

"No… at least not intentionally, I tried to find out about Lincada, but Lazzerson told me about his past and kind of lost it… I think he'll be out of it for the next day or so with all the liquor we gave him in trade for information," Lincoln explained, feeling bad for upsetting Lazzerson that bad by making him recall his horrid history. No one deserved to relive the worst moments of their lives over again in their mind. The white haired boy hated doing that himself.

"Clyde, I want you to go with Bobby and Lori to the mall and see if any of the vendors need help. We need to let people know they can always come to us for help," Lincoln ordered. His best friend nodded with a reluctant sigh, but knew he was being sent with Bobby and Lori, the woman he used to worship, to improve his relationships with them.

"We'll call if anything goes off the rails," Clyde agreed while adjusting his glasses. He gave up on wearing contacts since they took too long to put in and out of his eyes, and did nothing but irritate his eyes.

"Good luck," Ronnie Anne wished him the best of luck while watching him leave.

"Ronnie Anne, you're second-in-command, so take as many people as you can and grab the two warehouses near the docks. I'll assign the rest of my sisters to their tasks, any drugs you find go straight to the authorities. Just to let them know how law abiding we are." Lincoln stated. Choosing who was the second in charge was easy enough, how he was going to pick the third was going to be hard.

"Alright Lame-o. I'll see you in a couple hours. Love ya," Ronnie Anne grinned, ready to get her knuckles dirty. A giant fight at the docks sounded fun to her. Being seen as the second-in-command was nice but it did not give her as much authority as she wished, but any power she did not have was easily fixed with her brute strength and threatening appearance.

"Love you too," Lincoln bid her good luck. After they both had been sent on their tasks, he left his office to go make sure everyone was ready and able to take on the jobs he had planned on giving them, after thoroughly checking the map of the turf Lazzerson had control of.

"Starting off the new job by going on the offensive?" Lincada appeared behind her male twin during his walk. Funnily enough it was the first place outside his dream he had met her at, but the location did nothing to alleviate the sudden tension.

"Yup. Lazzerson's gone off crying with liquor, weed and bad memories… Sorry for that fight the other day," Lincoln apologized. Going the complete rage route was not going to help at all.

"No, I understand why you're mad… I wish I could tell you my reasons for throwing you off the trail constantly," Lincada apologized. Her male twin huffed in frustration, looking over the railing to the lower floor.

"You could at least lighten up on me," Lincoln sighed, "I'm already about to have a heart attack from being the leader of this mafia… I didn't even get a day in before I started ordering strikes on Lazzerson's turf, and we haven't even gotten around to sorting out the temporary work opportunities. The only thing that took a lot of tension off me, was proposing to Ronnie Anne."

"…Did you know Jayzo owned turf in Lansing as well?" Lincada asked. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow. Lansing was another city in Michigan, maybe two hundred miles away from Royal Woods. He had been there when he was a lot younger on a family vacation, but did not know more than that.

"No, I had no idea… what happened to it?"

"No clue… I know that someone took it a long time ago though," Lincada claimed, seemingly someone had taken part of Jayzo's company out from under his own nose. Lincoln wondered who it was if neither Nora or Lazzerson did it.

"I don't think any of the mafias in Royal Woods are able to expand that far out yet…" Lincoln fixed his sunglasses on his head while straightening his suit top.

"Well someone is coming soon… They're done with Lansing and want a new place to have fun in," Lincada wanted to warn her brother to be careful. He did not get a chance to inquire further before she vanished.

"One year of a coma… and I still hate most of my life," Lincoln sighed. He continued all the way downstairs. He saw everyone gathered up, most of his sisters sitting around.

"Sorry for the wait," the white haired boy apologized. He saw Luna, Lynn, Lucy, Leni and Luan all here. They had seen Ronnie Anne grab about twenty co-workers before leaving.

"It's alright, boss," Luna reassured. Lincoln rubbed his head, aware she was saying it on purpose to get under his skin.

"So what do you want us to do?" Lucy requested. They would like to get started on their jobs soon, if they had any today.

"Since Lazzerson had a mental breakdown, we're going to snatch some stuff while the chance is around," Lincoln stretched as he tried to pick who would be best together and on what area to steal.

"Lucy, Lynn and Luan. I want you two to head to the shopping district. Lazzerson has guys there extorting money from the shopkeepers for protection. Go show them how much more protection we can offer if they change to us," Lincoln ordered. The three agreed, heading off to do this, but predicted they would wind up in a fight.

"What about us?" Leni asked with a hand raised like it was a classroom.

"You two are with me. I wanted to check up on where Lazzerson gets his supplies," Lincoln answered. Growing weed was not the hardest, but making cocaine and the likes required a lot of chemicals. It would hurt a lot if they cut out the person that provided said chemicals.

"Alright, bro. Let's rock!" Luna grinned in agreement. Leni was glad to finally be working with their brother.

"Let's just hope this is easy…"


	63. The Supplier?

Lincoln, Luna and Leni had gone to a southern part of Royal Woods. At the moment, things were looking calm. They were in a storage unit facility, where row after row of the decently-sized storage lockers resided. There seemed to be a large gathering of people here.

"How do you know the supplier is here, Linc?" Leni asked. It seemed completely random and seemingly their only brother had picked this place with no real context or reasoning.

"Yeah, bro… I think this is just a storage unit auction," Luna added. Storage unit auctions were common. If the average human who rented a unit failed to make a payment and retrieve their items within a certain amount of preset time, the entire unit items included would be auctioned off.

"I ran a quick background check on this place. The three workers all wear emerald flower rings, and the owner of this whole storage unit has five warrants out for his arrest for drug possession and evading authorities," Lincoln explained. Nora may be gone, but her connections weren't. Being able to get in contact with police and get lots of information easily was nice to him.

"Oh! Does he have a bounty on him?" Leni was eager to play bounty hunters with her two siblings.

"He has one for five hundred bucks… guess it would be good bribery money for the authorities to keep looking the other way from us, but we only do it IF he causes us trouble," Lincoln agreed, guessing if they could take this man, they could make a decent amount of money from him to give to the police, but only agreeing to do it if the storage facility owner attacked them or made an effort to run.

"That's our boss, the man with a plan," the rocker sibling smiled.

"Oh-! Again with the boss thing…" Lincoln glared to her, letting out a frustrated sigh. The three began to make their way to the crowd, hearing the dozens of people bidding on the storage unit to make more money back than they initially put into it.

"…And sold for six-hundred and fifty dollars!" A rather obese man announced, and the locker closed with a loud slam. The auction was finished. The ruby animal mafia group had arrived very late right at the tail end of the final auction. The group of people all began leaving, looking disappointed or annoyed that they failed to get anything beyond time lost.

"Are you Eddy?" Lincoln chimed up, catching the large man by surprise.

"The one and only, Eddy Taliom. If you're here for the auction, you're out of luck," Eddy introduced himself, apologizing. They could see the emerald flower rings on his hand, appearing to be massively stretched to their limits.

"We're here to talk with you about your relation to Lazzerson… and your outstanding warrant," Lincoln claimed. Eddy looked startled.

"Look, before you go running… or lightly jogging, can you try the more peaceful route?" Luna requested. She was not in the mood to watch this man who had clearly not exercised much in his life make a very pitiful attempt to escape them. How he escaped the police more than once is beyond her comprehension.

"What do you want from me? I'm just a guy with a lot of space to spare… really, this is just a motel for those drug fiends," Eddy replied, upset at the obvious mockery of his weight. Lincoln hated to imagine anyone sleeping inside a storage unit. Despite how secure it sounded, it felt depressing to imagine.

"Oh, really? Like a bed and breakfast?" Leni asked. Lincoln could not resist laughing slightly, nor could Luna.

"Ah, Leni… I love you… But yeah, Eddy, those drug fiends are kind of why we're here. Either you or one of your co-workers are the suppliers for the drugs Lazzerson uses," Lincoln explained. He would hate to fight the storage facility owner. It would feel too one sided, but they doubted this was going to be an easy negotiation.

"One brings it then it gets stored. I take the fall every time for it being found too… all my other customers don't come back because of my rep, or these jerks scare them off," Eddy sighed. Lincoln could take a good guess that poor Eddy was nothing more than one unfortunate fall guy who got wrapped up in the wrong business, with no way to get out.

"How about we help each other. You tell us who the supplier is, and we'll save you from dealing with him anymore. Lazzerson can't blame anything on you if we got involved, we also know how to take off the rings," the ruby leader offered a hand in cooperation. Once the supplier was gone, Eddy would have no worries about being left holding any illegal substances in his units, or at least any that he was aware of.

"You can deal with the lifeless bums yourself, though," Luna added, not in the mood to deal with every tiny problem. They needed to handle their own problems right now. Still she was glad to know her little brother was out to find a compromise before anything else, trying to keep their mafia groups name in better light.

"Well… they're the other problem. Here, take this," Eddy pulled out a small ring of keys, and took the tiny stubby one off the key ring, giving it over to the white-suited boy.

"What do you mean?" Leni wondered how guests of a motel could be causing trouble at the moment. At times like this her siblings were glad they could not read her mind.

"One punk stuffs everything in storage locker G-8. He's always nearby it at all times, waiting for an excuse to fight," Eddy explained. The main supplier of the drugs was insanely paranoid and overprotective of his area when barely any customers were coming to begin with. The rest were being scared off by the drug addicts.

"One idiot shouldn't be much to deal with… I'll go handle him alone. You two make sure Eddy here doesn't vanish," Lincoln ordered while looking at the key for the storage unit. However, his older sisters were not exactly agreeing to the plan.

"Lincoln, you haven't fought in a year. You need to relax and let us handle it," Leni insisted. Lincoln was just surprised that she had learnt how to fight at all. If what Lisa had told him was true, then the second eldest Loud sibling had learnt mainly the basics of multiple fighting styles, though she was not good enough to go further than that in any of them. Learning the basics of so many different types, and mixing them up randomly made Leni an unpredictable threat.

"Yeah, boss. You need to chill," Luna added. Lincoln rolled his eyes, not listening to any more of this.

"Just wait here. I'll call you if it's true… or if I get shot again," the mafia leader ordered, and then began to make his way toward the storage unit with a confident smirk, ready to handle one paranoid drug addict. His sisters hated hearing him joke about the worst moment of their lives.

"These are a little annoying though…" He thought while rubbing one of his legs. the heavy weights strapped onto each leg were constantly making his muscles feel tired and stressed. recovery was far from easy, but Lincoln was going to withstand it.

"Here we are," Lincoln saw unit G-8 up a short distance. The walk was longer than he expected, but that was because there was no short quick method of getting through the many long rows of storage buildings.

"Where do you think you're going?" A ragged strained voice spoke, Lincoln halted at unit G-5. Two bald people stood before him, one in a white tank top and the other shirtless and looking like he had done drugs most of his life, skinny and looking like a light breeze would make him fall unconscious.

"Inspecting units. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Lincoln guessed this was the paranoid drug addict he was referred to, and his cohort.

"Yeah, we do, you stupid brat!" The first man grabbed the ruby animal leader and pinned him against one of the many metallic walls that surrounded them, "I'm gonna enjoy pounding you into the ground."

"Oh… are you now?" Lincoln smirked. He had his own tricks up his sleeve, or rather in his pocket. He reached up for his suit pocket where the squirting flower resided.

"Here, why don't you sniff this," Lincoln squeezed the fake flower bottom in his pocket. A reddish orange spray blasted out from the flower, and at the emerald member's face and spraying his eyes, making him let go before falling over and beginning to scream in agony, holding his face and rubbing his eyes as he rolled around on the ground.

"Wh-what'd you hit him with?!" the other member asked in fear, seeing the white haired teenager brushing his suit clean.

"Just some capsaicin," Lincoln answered. Capsaicin was the main ingredient in pepper spray. He had the fake flower full of it, just so he could get the surprise on people by letting them get close to try and intimidate him, before they would get a face full of the boiling substance.

"Why, you little obstinate punk!" The other drug addict tried to attack him Lincoln ducking under the punch before grabbing the man's elbow and wrist getting behind him and twisting his arm in a painful manner behind his back

"Sorry about this, but I think you had more than your fair share of chances in your life," Lincoln grinned, kicking the man off his feet and tripping him onto the hard ground. Lincoln then stomped him on the face before the foe tried any form of attack, knocking him out instantly.

"Feels good to be back," Lincoln hummed, ignoring the other man on the ground crying for help while trying to get the glorified pepper spray off of his face, but without any water, that would be harder than it sounded.

"Now to see what we're dealing with," Lincoln went over to storage unit G-8, putting the key into it and unlocking it, taking the small lock off and resting it aside, and then sliding the metal shutter open. His eyes widened at the packed full shutter. Everything inside the shutter looked ready to explode out.

"Oh, whoa!" Lincoln jumped up, grabbing the shutter and closing it shut, panting. He wondered how they got anything out of there. The teenager pulled out his cellphone, conference calling Leni and Luna.

"Yo, bro," Luna answered.

"Hey Lincy! Did you find what you were looking for?" Leni asked after she had picked up.

"Uh… yeah. Eddy was telling the truth… Come over and help me with this. Oh, and tell him how to remove his rings," Lincoln ordered. His two sisters agreed, and they both hung up. It turned out according to Lisa, pickle juice was the way to get the emerald rings to release holds on a member's flesh. The young boy turned back to the closed shutter.

"Well… at least we should get a lot of money from all this."


	64. Bismuth

Lincoln and Leni sat on a bench just outside of an ice cream shop, just what they were doing to celebrate a job done and pretty easily. The two were waiting for Luna to get through the large line inside.

"That Eddy guy was really happy when we got the rings off," Leni stated, while her brother was texting on his phone.

"Yeah… let's hope he can make his life better… wherever he goes. David texted me and said that he and Maddison have about half of the supplies loaded," Lincoln replied. When he had confirmed that the supplies were indeed at that storage facility, he called up some of his workers to come get it all gathered up with moving trucks, and make an effort to get a form of profit from it.

"You're so far doing great for your first day as boss," Leni claimed, impressed at how well her brother had recovered so fast. She didn't know many people who came back from comas, but she could guess it was an abnormally fast recovery.

"Wish I could say the same thing, Leni, but it's barely 1 p.m., and nothing horrible has happened yet today… so I give it another thirty minutes…" Lincoln retorted, not wanting to go counting their eggs before they were all even remotely gathered. His second oldest sister understood his refusal to drop his guard much.

"Lincoln, you can't go everyday with such a pessi… pese… peso?" Leni again was having trouble recalling a word longer than eight letters. He knew what she was trying to say, but decided to aid her so she could make her point.

"Pessimistic?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah!" Leni snapped her fingers, "You can't live everyday thinking like a… that what you just said. It's not healthy."

"…I guess you're right Leni… Ronnie Anne wouldn't like me if I got too serious," Lincoln chuckled, agreeing that it was probably not in his best interest to think that way, but unfortunately as boss, he needed to be prepared for the worst so it would be easier to deal with when and if it happened.

"That's good to hear, Lincy," the long blonde haired girl smiled. Lincoln wished he could make her the third in charge of the ruby animal mafia, but she was too innocent. She would not be able to catch someone lying to her from a mile away. She definitely would get used if she gained authority.

"Sorry for the wait guys. The dude workin' the register was just screwing up constantly," Luna apologized as she stepped out, carrying their ice cream cones.

"Thanks, Luna!" Leni and Lincoln took their frozen treats. The mafia leader got rocky road flavor, Leni got vanilla and Luna got herself strawberry.

"At least the city hasn't changed too much since I've been away… well, externally anyway," Lincoln commented. Behind the curtains of Royal Woods, the affairs happening internally were more of a mess than anything.

"I'll say, boss, but it's still a lot better to have two groups fighting for control over three, right?" Luna asked, their brother frustrated again at her referring him as boss.

"I really don't know anymore," Lincoln replied. What Lincada had told him earlier today was concerning. Another group coming to make Royal Woods their new playground that sounded more concerning than anything. He wished his female twin would appear again, but he had a bad feeling up his spine.

"Oh, that reminds me! I need to check up on the others," Lincoln pulled out his cellphone. He had to double check up on everyone out of his own concern. He conference-called Ronnie Anne, Lynn and Clyde.

"Hi, Lincoln."

"Hey, Lame-o."

"Hey, Lincoln."

Lincoln was relieved to hear them all, but there was a lot of background noise coming from one of them. He guessed it was Clyde, whatever he was doing.

"How are things going for you guys?" Lincoln requested. He wished he could make his best friend the third in charge of the mafia, but sadly, Clyde did not have the best backbone when it came to decisions, and was relatively easy to verbally shove around.

"Lori and Bobby are trying to carry everything… or in this case everyone I guess," Clyde claimed.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked, hoping that neither his sister nor her boyfriend was hurt.

"We came to ask everyone if they needed help, and suddenly we got jumped by like twenty workers… none of them were wearing rings either," Clyde explained. It was strange, but the only real upside to this was that the many people who attacked them by surprise were horrible fighters, and could be taken down easily without an issue.

"Sorry for the noise by the way. There's almost fifty air conditioners in here running at once," he apologized, being stuck in a store called the Coolinator where people could pay money to step inside and cool off from the heat for a certain amount of time. The business only ran in spring and summer.

"Well, good work. Thanks for keeping them safe," Lincoln thanked Clyde.

"Oh, it was nothing," Clyde smirked.

"Things are fine over here. We took over the warehouses, but they were full of drug labs! For a weed lover Lazzerson sure doesn't grow much of it. The police are inside clearing it out," Ronnie Anne explained. She had been too afraid to walk into the warehouse because of all the fumes spewing from the several labs left unattended.

"People in the shopping district are now giving us their money for protection. Turns out that offering better services for half the price really works," Lynn groaned. She was lying down on some grass. Luan took the cellphone from her to let her rest.

"Yeah, but Lazzerson's guys didn't like it and they sent dozens to fight us… Lynn got hit in the head by a golf club. Me and Lucy are fine, just roughed up," Luan explained. She did her best to treat the others injuries, but Lucy and Lynn were not helped much by the poor attempts of using laughter as the best medicine, "They haven't sent anyone else so I guess we can call Lazzerson… Lazyson!"

"Whoa…! You need to get to a hospital right now! You three are done for today," Lincoln dismissed his three sisters from doing anymore work after a violent encounter like that.

"Lincoln, calm down. We just have some bumps and bruises. We'll be good to work soon," Luan reassured. Lincoln let out a frustrated groan for all three to hear, before raising his tone.

"Let me rephrase that. You three either go to the hospital, or I'll come over there with some of the other workers to drag you all there," Lincoln ordered, not caring for how the injuries looked. He wanted to make sure they all were fine.

"Alright, Lincoln, sheesh… no need to get 'worked' up over it," Luan laughed before hanging up, leaving just the three of them in a conference call. Leni and Luna were still enjoying their ice cream.

"Whadd'ya want us to do now, Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne requested. Her fiancé had to think on that for a second. Recalling all of Lazzerson's turf locations and their priorities was a big pain to him.

"You meet up with me, Ronnie Anne. Your co-workers can handle things from there… Clyde, keep doing work there," Lincoln ordered. The two agreed, before the conference call ended abruptly, leaving nothing but the sound of light static.

"Uh… later," Lincoln pocketed his cellphone. He found that rather rude.

"Is everything okay, bro?" Luna asked, Lincoln noticing that his ice cream had partially melted. He just shrugged and took giant bites out of it, until he finished it off within a few seconds.

"Lynn got hurt. They'll be taking her to the hospital," Lincoln said while rubbing his head, feeling a headache coming on already. He hated being this rude, arguing his point refusing to change positions or plans. He disliked being a mean leader, but it had to be done.

"Just relax. They'll be fine…" Leni reassured. If their only brother was this stressed from his first day in charge, then he was going to be in for a long haul with this heavy burden. What Lincada said that haunted his mind did nothing to help either.

"Come on. We need to meet up with Ronnie Anne. After that we'll check things out at some of our businesses," Lincoln got up. Luna and Leni nodded while throwing what was left of their ice creams into the trash bin nearby. The three of them all headed off down the sidewalk to meet up with Lincoln's fiancée. Lincoln just hoped Clyde would be fine on his own with Bobby and Lori.

"And you're sure you called the police?" Clyde asked, while dragging another of the unconscious and beaten up store workers out of the air conditioner filled store. They were trying to just help get everyone out of there to make things more convenient for the owner of that business.

"They said they'd be here soon," Bobby repeated. It had been probably twenty minutes now since that phone call to 911. It was annoying to be asked every two minutes if he had actually dialed them or not.

"Hey you two, when you're done fighting come look at this," Lori called out. The two boys came over after putting down the two people they had been getting out of the shop.

"What's up, Lori? Did this guy break something?" Bobby questioned, seeing his girlfriend beside another unconscious man, who appeared to be in an uncomfortable position with one of his legs behind his head.

"Probably, but look at his teeth," Lori had noticed something while dragging him. She held his mouth open, letting them see. The both of them were shocked.

"Oh gosh… whoa… wha… that's a tattoo! That's a tattoo on his teeth!" Clyde was horrified. Just imagining the process was making his own teeth hurt, same for Bobby. They wondered how Lori was able to tolerate this image.

"That's just crazy…" Bobby claimed. The tattoo on the teeth of the man was mainly the word, 'Bismuth',

"Come to think of it… they all have it!" Clyde realized when looking at a few more of their attackers open mouths. It was a bad sign, but it meant they might have more of a clue now about who attacked them; another group. Another group that was lacking rings, but they expected that to change soon.

"I hope this won't be too much trouble…"


	65. Kidnapped Princess

**Authors Note: Hello all, I wanted to just apologize for the last few chapters being bad...I say that because they haven't received much response, which is saddening to me. I apologize for being a let down to you all.**

"Be honest Lincoln… did you only want to check up on Sebastio's so we could have a date?" Ronnie Anne sat with her boyfriend at a table. Lincoln sheepishly grinned.

"I mean we are waiting for Luna and Leni to come back from checking up on Estrella… why not take advantage of a five star restaurants menu," Lincoln smiled. To make things more expedite, he had purposed they split up to check on the multiple businesses faster. In reality, he did this to get free private time to enjoy with his girlfriend.

"Well… at least you pay. That's more than Nora'd have done," Ronnie Anne didn't want to complain about the first date in a year, and she doubted there would be rare moments where they could separate their relationship and work.

"Heh… there's also some people assigned here today," Lincoln looked over at the busboy and waiter running around. The restaurant was as full as ever at the moment. The ones working were Danny and Jackson, the two looked a lot different now that they were more casually dressed since there was no uniform in their mafia.

"Who knew those two would become some of the hardest workers of ours," the Santiago girl commented. Then again she never expected to be the second in charge of one of the Michigan mafias either.

"Hardest working and the two that also mess up the most… guess it's my fault for that," Lincoln chuckled, aware that everyone relaxed when he announced no one would be losing any fingers for failure no matter what, but they still would receive some kind of punishment.

"There's just one thing still bothering me… I've been looking over all of Nora's documents and from what I can tell, she never found out what happened to those five bombs that went missing," Lincoln explained. Not knowing what happened to the bombs made him paranoid.

"Huh… I completely forgot about it… I just thought the transporters stole and sold them," Ronnie Anne said. Her boyfriend wished he could think the same, but Nora herself claimed she had personally overseen everything, somehow. The bombs still vanished without a trace.

"I mean… it was probably an inside job. When Nora left, I'm sure the traitors took the chance to vanish," Lincoln theorized while rubbing his head. He had a headache coming on already. His cellphone alert tone then chimed up. He pulled it out to view what he had received.

"…well there's the horrible thing for today," he looked at the picture Lori had sent. He showed it to his fiancée, and her expression was about as surprised as his.

"When you think you see everything, something newer and stupider comes around," Ronnie Anne rubbed her head. The picture showed someone's open mouth and their teeth with the writing 'Bismuth' on it. There then read Lori's text underneath it.

"They're tattoos. We r on our way 2 hospital. 1 got up and bit Bobby."

The teenage couple was happy to have eaten first before receiving the text. They both felt their teeth hurt from seeing this and imagining the agonizing process it must have been to get the words tattooed on their sensitive cavities.

"Think this is just some random petty thug group?" Ronnie Anne theorized, thinking it was just gangsters being stupid teenagers who felt rebellious with their parents, so they went out to party and ruin their lives, then crawled back home when they got bored of it.

"I'm worried this is what Lincada was telling me about," Lincoln claimed while they stepped outside the restaurant, the ruby animal leader having left their payment for their meals on the table.

"The weirdoes coming from Lansing? It's out there, but why aren't they using rings?" Ronnie Anne questioned, confused.

"I have no idea… I think I see Leni and Luna," Lincoln saw his familiar sisters in the distance, coming back from their drop by at the chop shop. The two looked annoyed now with bruises and scratches on them all over. Luna was even missing her piercing now.

"Whoa… what happened?!" Lincoln came over. His older sisters motioned for him to calm down, not wanting to stress him out, but something bad did happen.

"We're fine bro, chill… here, Lazzerson had one of his guys drop this off for you," Luna presented a closed folder. The teenage boy took it and stuffed it into the bigger inner pocket of his jacket, thinking he could view it later.

"He got the worst of it, the poor guy," Leni shook her head while adjusting her sunglasses on her head. She enjoyed matching her brother. He looked great with those sunglasses, while wearing the suit she made for him.

"Lazzerson used the information to set up an attack?!" Lincoln looked infuriated at the thought of this. He felt Ronnie Anne's hand holding his now.

"Lincoln, you need to calm down. It's not healthy to be angry and stressed all the time," she requested for him to relax. He could see his future fiancée's worry in her eyes, which made him take in a deep breath and let out a long exhale.

"Lazzerson had nothing to do with this. He only just sent one guy and he didn't attack us. The guy ran into us and decided to give us the folder first, then some weirdos jumped out of nowhere when we were talking to Estrella. " Luna explained that this was not the emerald flower mafia leader's doing.

"Yeah! Things would have ended up way worse if Estrella and that drug addict weren't there," Leni reassured they got the least of the injuries. Lincoln looked them both over. Imagining someone ripping out Luna's piercing or beat up on Leni left nothing but rage in his heart.

"Did they have writing on their teeth?" The young boy requested.

"Bro, we were too busy punching them in their teeth to look at them," Luna groaned. They had no chance to look in anyone of their attackers' mouths.

"I see… come on, we're going to the hospital," he said, wanting to meet up with Lynn and the others now. He half expected everyone to be there soon. They all agreed and began to head off to get to the hospital where their sisters were at the moment, he figured it would be a good chance to let the two get medical help too.

Lisa was in the mafia headquarters' personal laboratory, which had been made within half of the cellar. She tended to spend most of her time here, even if the only music she had was jazz, and not from her own choice. Nirmata's record player was that loud in his half of the cellar while he made rings.

"Hey Lisa," Lana entered the lab, covered in grease and filth. Lisa was irritated when she saw her like this. Keeping the laboratory sterile was harder than it should be.

"Hello, Lana… what can I do for you?" Lisa turned to her. The lab coat she wore was a too big for her and did not fit well, but she would grow into it eventually, perhaps in about twelve years at most.

"That Super Ultra Multi-tool you gave me kind of… exploded," Lana sheepishly replied. During the air conditioner repairs, the special Multi-tool Lisa had invented blew up, like a lot of her creations until they were polished.

"Mhm… that's the third time… perhaps maybe Power Tool Swapability was not too good of an idea," Lisa muttered while tapping her chest with one finger. A habit she had adapted. The Ultra Multi-tool was like a regular one, but with more heavy equipment than a set of tiny knives.

"But hey, it held out long enough to get the A/C working again," Lana stated the good news, since this lab tended to heat up a lot without the air conditioner cooling things down, which made some experiments not safe to keep around. The twin handed over the busted invention to her younger sister.

"So how did Lola's recruitment attempt go today?" Lisa asked. Usually their spoiled sibling spent each day going around finding those who were down while being hit with rough times. As sad as it sounded, debt was a grand way to wrangle a worker to make sure they weren't going anywhere.

"She isn't back yet, so I don't know," Lana shrugged. The system so far had not been tested. Lola found them and Lincoln was the one to decide whether or not they were worth recruiting. Sadly, their only brother had not gotten to meet any people one of the twins had found yet, since it was a lot harder to recruit before without a boss.

"She should have been back two hours ago, Lana. You know she ends the searches at four p.m. on the dot," Lisa stated. The clock on the nearby wall read twenty past six now. Concerned, Lana pulled out her cellphone beginning to dial her twin's phone number, the ringing seemed to last forever.

"I've been waiting for a call," a calm voice answered. This was not her twin. Lana felt a lump in her throat and her heart skip a beat.

"Who… who is this? Where's Lola?" Lana stuttered.

"She can't talk right now. She's been enjoying inhaling an ether-soaked rag," the voice yawning. The sound of clattering could be heard by Lana. She recognized that noise as Lola's tiara falling on the floor. She had heard that noise so many times.

"Don't worry. She's safe right now… but let's just say this; every hour I don't hear from your boss, is another hour that I'll let my vicious dogs out of their cage and have their own fun with your sister," the girl then hung up. Lana looked mortified.

"This is terrible…! I'll start tracking Lola's phone…" Lisa exhaled, doubting that panicking would matter, though when she tried to pull up Lola's phone number to find out their location, something unexpected happened.

"Oh dear… it appears I can't track it for some reason. The place they're at must have very bad reception," the child prodigy said. The stronger the signal the phone had, the easier the number would be to track. It worked in vice versa unfortunately, whomever made the call must have been aware of this.

"I gotta get Lincoln!" Lana ran out in terror, leaving her super intelligent sister there. The only thing she could think to do, was to get her brother.

"I can't help but feel that something is off…" Lisa pondered, "But I can't put my finger on it."


	66. Fated Meeting

**Authors Note: I wanted to let you all know, that with this chapter we're kind of at the final stretch. I don't know how many chapters are left, but I figured I would inform you.**

Lincoln and most of his family were at the hospital. So far everyone and everything was fine. Lincoln could at least rest easier with this knowledge, but right now he was relaxed in his chair, lost in his own thoughts. All his sisters that were at the hospital were occupied with their own tasks or examinations.

"Are you okay, Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne handed him a grape soda she had gotten from the vending machine. Her boyfriend seemed to constantly be thinking now. It was unusual, but a habit. He was in dire need of adapting in this leader lifestyle.

"Yeah… just… everything is confusing now…" Lincoln reached into his suit and pulled out the folder he had received from Lazzerson. He did not even know if he could trust it or if he had been plain tricked, though he doubted the emerald leader was in any good mental position to make plans like this.

"Lynn's doing fine, but it looks like Luna isn't going to be wearing a piercing for a long time," Ronnie Anne explained, informing him of what the doctors and nurses had said thus far. They just weren't in the room with his sisters. Lincoln looked over the folders contents quite intensely.

"Everyone else has just cuts and bruises… Your parents called too, and said they would be here in a minute," she then added.

"That's good, at least… where's Bobby and Clyde?" Lincoln questioned. He didn't see the two anywhere, yet Lori was getting checked out to just for being involved in the fight and to get Bobby to calm down.

"Clyde went back to the main building. Bobby is being checked out, too, because of that lunatic biting him," Ronnie Anne was still surprised at how bad the bite was. It looked like the attacker had broken through the skin like a zombie.

"Lincoln! Lincoln!" They heard Lana's voice and saw her running up the hall to them. Lincoln pocketed the folder, looking annoyed by what he read, but he was not telling his girlfriend anything about its contents.

"Lana, calm down, what's going on?" Lincoln could tell she had run the entire way here. She was out of breath and looked on the verge of a breakdown.

"Lo-Lola! Lola got kidnapped!" Lana explained as fast as she could, "The kidnapper wants to talk to you or else she'll let some scary dog loose on Lola!"

"H-huh?!" Her only brother stared. Maybe this was the worst thing of today.

"Kidnapping? What?!" Ronnie Anne was shocked. Lana gave her brother the phone number to call.

"Calm down, everything'll be fine," Lincoln reassured while beginning to dial the kidnapper, and he held the phone up to his ear. Ronnie Anne tried to help Lana calm since she was distraught, while they waited to see what their mafia leader would do.

"Hello?" Lincoln spoke up.

"Well, it's about time you got in contact with me… seriously," the female voice responded. Hearing them stunned him. He continued talking with them while the others waited for some sort of verdict or news.

"Okay… see ya there," Lincoln hung up, pocketing his cellphone before turning to Ronnie and Lana.

"Is-is Lola alright? Please tell me she is!" The anxious Lana begged. Her only brother patted her head.

"Calm down… She's not in any danger… come on, you two," Lincoln laughed. How he could be so relaxed about this was confusing to them. It did not sound like she was safe.

"Did they want money or something? What's going on?" Ronnie Anne questioned. She half expected this to be an attempt to extort money.

"Nope. She just wants to meet up, so we're going to their building… I guess you could say, there's a new mob in Michigan," Lincoln simply explained. Someone else was entering into the mafia scene and it was not looking good from the outset, if the first thing they did was kidnap Lola just to meet up with their leader. Ronnie Anne and Lana followed him, not wanting to leave him to this alone, fearing for his safety.

The taxi ride to this place took a while. Lincoln remained calm, though keeping Lana relaxed was hard. Ronnie Anne was doing her best on those matters, but she was not the best with interacting with his family, especially the children.

"Does this have to do with those teeth tattoo guys?" Lana asked.

"Yeah. Those guys are just meat puppets," Lincoln replied. They were involved but they were the lowest in the new mafia. When the taxi stopped they could see a small closed hotel. They all disembarked from the vehicle.

"This is the place?" Ronnie Anne raised an eyebrow. This hotel had been condemned for having a bad bug infestation that made it horrible to survive in. The exterminators had dealt with it and now the building just awaited the next proprietor.

"This is the place," Lincoln kicked the glass door shattering it to shards before walking in nonchalantly. His girlfriend and sister hesitated slightly before following. Thankfully, no alarm was going off, which was strange to them.

"What if we get attacked, Lame-o? I thought you promised me to go about these kinds of things smartly!" Ronnie Anne growled, not wanting to walk into a trap full of the enemy mafia.

"No need to be smart when there isn't any threat," Lincoln replied as they got into the elevator, pressing the button to go to the top floor, the doors closing as it began to ascend with the three inside.

"Lola has been kidnapped, and you're saying that's not a threat?!" Lana asked while holding him by his lapels. The white haired boy made her let go.

"You'll see in a minute," he stretched. The elevator came to a stop, Lincoln beginning to lead them toward the penthouse. The hallway to it felt endless. The anxiety and anticipation bothering all but Lincoln. When they got to the big pair of double doors, the white-suited boy knocked.

"Hello…? Oh, hey!" Lola opened the door. Lana instantly tackled her into a tight hug to the floor.

"Lola! Thank goodness! Are you okay?! Did they hurt you?" Lana begged, Ronnie Anne seeing the nice big room around, Lincoln stepping in looking around. There was nobody here besides Lola.

"Hurt me? Why would someone hurt me?" Lola asked, confused.

"Alright, come on out. I know you're in here," Lincoln called out, hearing the sound of footsteps against the tiled floors.

"Sorry for the wait," a long white haired girl in a red striped shirt and grey skirt stood, a few tiny scars showing on her cheek and neck. A tube was connected to her throat, a portable ventilator dangling off her side like a bag.

"No way…" Ronnie Anne scratched her head as the young twins looked between their only brother and the girl. They had a lot of similarities between them.

"So I finally get to see you, Lincada…" Lincoln greeted his twin half-heartedly. He saw a lot of rings on her hands that all had various shapes, with rainbow gems that were full of twists and curves. The one that stuck out the most was the heart that had a bismuth gem in the center.

"That's not my birth name, but I guess it doesn't matter. Anyone else who called me by my name really isn't alive anymore," Lincada shook her head, accepting the name her male twin had bestowed upon her.

"This… is your twin?" Lola asked seeing their only brother nod

"Yeah… but she looks a lot different than I remember," Lincoln claimed, seeing Lincada bow before them before going back to her straight posture.

"Astral projection lets you manipulate your image," the female twin hummed.

"Why'd you kidnap Lola and threaten to release attack dogs on her every hour you didn't hear from him?!" Ronnie Anne demanded. Lincoln was not going to tell her to calm down. He was caught in an odd emotional state himself. He felt so much, but was feeling nothing at the same time.

"Kidnap?" Lola quirked, "She told me she was interested in joining our group and wanted to talk privately…"

"The dog comment was to make Linco there hurry up… I do have a dog though. He's lying over there," Lincada pointed a thumb to their right where they could see a large, white-and-black furred Great Dane lying on their side, snoring away,

"He's about nine years old now. He may be my service animal, but he's too lazy to hurt a fly. Isn't that right, Grane?" She called to him. The dog came over to his master's side before laying down beside her, the twins surprised that dogs could even get this big.

"He's adorable," Lincoln flatly said. While he was glad to know his younger sister was never in any danger, he just wished his twin had made a simple phone call.

"Living in Lansing was really boring… Sorry for lying to you like I did, bro, but taking over Jayzo's stuff is not as easy as it sounds," Lincada apologized, "With Jayzo in prison, it only made things a million times easier."

"Sure…" Lincoln sighed, and then spoke up, "We have a lot to talk about."


	67. Surprise

"Come on. Why won't you discuss this with me?" Lincada asked. Her male twin was not talking about anything mafia related, and didn't allow his girlfriend or the twins to do it for him, and for obvious reasons. The girl with the ventilator had tried multiple times, but the topic was not one her male twin would approach yet.

"…Because I want you to come introduce yourself to the entire family. Our parents told us nothing about you for some reason, I'm guessing because of how upset they were," Lincoln claimed, presuming that the surprise birth was one shocker, but the kidnapping on top of that was another. He could joke that maybe he should have not been born, feeling like he overshadowed her place, but now was not the time. He wanted them to at least know she was alive and well, instead of constantly torturing them with worry.

"Well… they didn't raise me, but I'll go see them anyway," Lincada agreed, if it would get her only brother to actually talk with her about the current situation going on with the mafias.

"You sure are a lot different from what I remembered last time…" Ronnie Anne stated to Lincada as the five left the penthouse. Lincada whistled, her Great Dane coming over in its orange service vest, ready to go.

"People change," Lincada hummed, petting her dog as they made their way to the elevator. The Santiago girl shook her head in irritation at this comment.

"People don't change. They grow and develop… but they never change. Lincoln's the best example of this," Ronnie Anne stated while pointing a thumb to him. Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow while they boarded the elevator.

"What do you mean I haven't changed? I thought I was stronger and braver now…" Lincoln retorted. Lola and Lana agreed with him on that. In the last two years, things had been harder on him than anyone else they knew, and he still pulled through.

"Lincoln, that's not change… that's growth. You're the same boy doing everything he can for everyone he loves, becoming stronger and braver is who you'd inevitably become," Ronnie Anne exclaimed. Lincoln was surprised by this. Either she was trying to make him happy or get his spirits high, or even both, because they could tell today was going to be long and litigious.

"Are we going to meet up with everyone at the hospital?" Lana requested.

"They're probably long done with being treated," Lola said, thinking it would be better if they had the meeting at the headquarters. Lincoln could not help but wonder who his twin's boss was. The bismuth mafia only gave rings to the most important of the group.

"I'll call them up so we can go to the base," Lincoln got out his cellphone out once they began disembarking from the elevator. The small group had a long ways to go to get there, since no taxi would take them all at once.

Later in the day as the sun began to fall, everyone was doing their own activities in the base while waiting for everyone to get here, including the Loud parents. Lincoln had nearly all the workers in the building lined up in his office, while Lincada was in the cellar talking with Nirtama.

"…And those are the reasons why Lisa from now on is going to be the third-in-charge, in case both me and Ronnie Anne are unable to give orders," Lincoln finished a long winded speech about why the second youngest Loud member would be best to be third-in-charge of the group.

"Thank you, Lincoln," Lisa thanked him, aware that a lot of members believed the picks were biased, and they might be right, but he had put a lot of thought into who would fit perfectly, if it happened to be his family then he could care less with no regret.

"No problem. We need someone smarter than us in a position of power, right?" Lincoln laughed while giving multiple ruby animal rings to Lisa. Even if she did not get out of the lab much, her large brain would be greater as a leader as well.

"Hey, you're the one who missed a year of school," Ronnie Anne reminded her fiancé.

"Yeah, I know…" Lincoln groaned. When school started back up, he had to go straight for the tests that would stop him from being held back a grade. He hated to imagine how school would be while they ran a mafia when they got back.

"Well, that's all I need to say. You can all get back to work," Lincoln dismissed everyone, letting them all return to work they had been appropriately assigned. As they left, he noticed Lori enter the office.

"Hey, Lincoln! The whole family's here," she informed him.

"Are mom and dad here, too?" Lincoln requested while they left this office, Lisa and Ronnie Anne following. His girlfriend still felt something wrong, and wanted to guard him in case Lincada was up to something.

"Yeah. Is something going on?" The blonde haired girl requested, her brother loosening the upper button of his tucked in shirt under his white suit, while trying to relax since the day was winding down.

"Something more shocking than me reviving," Lincoln stated. His oldest sister was concerned now. Bobby was still at the hospital because he was going to need minor surgery on his arm to make sure it healed correctly from the bite.

"This should be an interesting evening," Lisa sighed, guessing she could not get to enjoy her promotion for long for whatever reason. She guessed this was just the normal Loud family luck, but their luck was nowhere near as bad as Lincoln's.

"Mind getting her, Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln requested.

"Sure, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne agreed, heading off to go fetch Lincada, hoping she was still in the cellar with the ring maker.

"Lincoln, honey, how'd your first day as boss go?" Mrs. Loud was the first to greet her son, having Lily beside her and Lobby in her arms. Lori took her daughter with a smile, wanting to take her off her mother's hands since she had watched her all day.

"About as horrible as I expected, so I guess decent," Lincoln answered. Sadly no one else was available to watch Lily or his niece, so they had to bring them along. The teenager could see his whole family here once again.

"Are you okay, Lynn?" Lincoln then turned to Lynn. She had bandaging wrapped around her head.

"I'm fine, Linc, relax," Lynn reassured. She had just received a light concussion that wasn't too strong, and it had already been treated.

"So son, what's so important you needed to call a family meeting?" Mister Loud requested, seeing this as a family meeting away from home. Lincoln found a funny metaphor that fit too well here.

"You know that gift exchange from a year ago… I realized I never got either of you two gifts," Lincoln stated. His parents found it sweet that he wanted to include them, but the Loud parents had opted out of holding a gift exchange this year for obvious reasons.

"Oh, baby, we don't want anything other than you all to be safe," Mrs. Loud stated.

"Well, this gift is related to my birth… you didn't tell anyone about what happened around the time I was born," Lincoln shook his head. For seeming so calm, Luna did not like how he was treating their parents.

"Well they did have to break your clavicle to help you along, but that healed fast," Mister Loud scratched his head, more recalling that hand crunching birth. His wife never lost that strength she had for her semi older age.

"Oh… I know what this is about," Lucy whispered to Lynn.

"Is he seriously going to do this now? I know it's important, but…" the auburn haired girl replied, finding it random and something that should have been talked about privately and personally between him and their parents, since no one knew how the many other sisters would react.

"Ohh…" the bucktoothed boy held his head. If he didn't know his father for being a slightly sillier man, he would presume they were trying to hide it, "I'm talking about my twin. The surprise one who got kidnapped a couple hours later."

Lincoln's point startled his parents, while everyone else was confused. Lola, Lana, Lucy, Lori and Lynn remained quiet.

"Surprise twin?"

"Kidnapping?"

"Talk about robbing the 'cradle'…"

"Luan!"

"Lincoln, honey… wh-where did you find out about this?" Mrs. Loud requested. Her husband was more depressed than anything. The memory of it all was more harshly engraved into his mind and heart.

"Simple, I earned a favor from Nora getting co-workers to brutally interrogate the kidnapper, and I made a deal with a drug lord after making him have a mental breakdown in my office and gave him liquor in trade for information," Lincoln explained. He still wondered what happened to Nora. She seemingly had just vanished off the face of the earth after turning over her rings and leadership.

"Bro, that is scary... But awesome," Luna commented. It did take a lot of effort to get a favor from a mafia leader and making the other break down.

"You went through all that effort to simply inquire about a lost twin?" Lisa rhetorically spoke. It was weird if it took all that effort to find out about her. Lincoln did not get a chance to answer her, as one of his parents chimed up.

"Son, look… we didn't want to make everyone upset and worried. We put our hope in the police to find her soon… After a few months, we realized they were not going to find anything," Mister Loud explained. The only satisfaction they had was that the kidnapper was arrested. They wanted Lincoln's birth to be seen as a joyous occasion.

"Well, I didn't ask for those excuses, and I didn't need a reminder that the police are really bad at their job…" Lincoln claimed. He looked over to Ronnie Anne who came with Lincada and her service dog, "…'cause I finally got to meet her… after a really confusing faked threat."

Everyone saw Lincada standing there. Looking at the female twin of their brother was shocking to all of them.

"Here's the demon," Ronnie Anne joked.

"Pleasure to finally meet you all… err… in person," Lincada bowed and grinned, noticing the family approaching her in disbelief. Lori, Lynn, Lucy, Ronnie Anne, Lincoln and Lily stayed back, waiting for the chaos to explode. Lincoln knew that his twin wanted to talk to him about the mafia ordeal, too.

"This is going to be a fun night…"


	68. Incident?

"Sheesh… here I thought Lily went through a lot of formula when she was just born," Lincoln sat in his office with Lobby in his arms, feeding her a bottle of formula. Lori had gotten wrangled into the rest with meeting Lincada, so he agreed to watch his niece.

"Good doggie!" Lily laughed. She wanted to stay with her only brother, claiming she felt scared around his female twin. Lincoln also somehow wound up watching over the large Great Dane that belonged to his twin, the large dog lying on his side while the youngest Loud sibling climbed all over the service animal.

"Huh?" Lincoln heard his phone on the desk ringing. His hands were full though and Lobby was the type to begin crying if she was not allowed to finish her bottle once started. He rolled his eyes.

"I can already tell you're going to be spoiled," he joked to his niece, nudging the phone off the receiver before he pressed the speaker button with his nose. He had learnt this trick a long time ago from old videos of his sisters interacting with multiple of them when they were newborns.

"Hello?" he answered. At the same time, he saw Ronnie Anne enter the office, carrying some food she had gotten since the family meeting was still going, and she wanted to make sure her boyfriend did not go starving himself on accident.

"Hey! Hahahah! Boss! It's the Mad Batter… *cough* *wheeze*," Maddison's enthusiastic voice exploded from the speaker. The leader of the mafia looked over at his second-in-charge. It did not sound too good to them already.

"Uh… hi, Maddison. Is everything alright with your assignment?" Lincoln had left the task to her and David of selling the chemicals and other various materials they had taken from the storage units.

"It's really *hack* *cough* fun! We were actually selling all the supplies to customers of Lazzerson's!" Maddison exclaimed, having a fun game of good old irony. The people who bought the drugs were trying to get the supplies so they could make their own to supply the addiction better, to most likely poor results.

"Oh, that's great! How'd that go?" Lincoln asked, thinking the insane former baseball star had entirely swallowed her energy pop whole again, but it sounded like this one was stuck partially down her throat.

"Hahahah… well there was a whole group gathered up near one of Lazzerson's hangouts. We got about two grand from them for the last of the supplies," Maddison stated while the sound of firetrucks and ambulance sirens filled the air.

"…Maddie… ugh… I can't feel my arm…" David's weak voice spoke out.

"Oh! That's because it's not there! Don't worry though I'm sure you'll live, Davey," Maddison answered, only to be followed by her boyfriend's startled screams.

"What the heck happened there?!" Ronnie Anne questioned if they needed backup, Lincoln in the same position.

"Calm down, angry ducky! There was a biiiiiig explosion! I think only like four of us are alive… but wow, it was fun! I can barely feel anything!" Maddison explained with her bright laughter, before another coughing fit erupted.

"Oh… I got something sharp in my chest, that might be why," she giggled. Lincoln looked to his girlfriend.

"Just stay calm…! We'll check in when you get treated," Lincoln replied. Then there was static.

"Agh! She hung up…" Lincoln felt his heart throb. People he ended up rather close with since he first joined had their lives in danger.

"…Do you think Lazzerson did this?" Ronnie Anne theorized. The drug lord presumably would gladly toss a few of his workers lives away if they were completely worthless. It also gave a good clue where the stolen bombs might have gone.

"No. Lazzerson just wants to relax and smoke weed to make the pain go away… especially today. He couldn't have done this," Lincoln explained. The image in his head of David with an arm missing and Maddison gravely impaled was frightening. If this was caused by the stolen bombs, who knew how many were used and how many were left.

"Boom boom?" Lily walked over to her brother when she heard the feared talk. Lincoln resting the now empty formula bottle aside since Lobby finished it.

"Sorry, Lily. Things just… go bad sometimes," Lincoln apologized for worrying her. He took his youngest sister up in his other arm, letting her sit on his lap to try and reassure that everything was going to be alright.

"What should we do Lame-o?" Ronnie Anne asked. Lincoln let out a frustrated sigh while rocking Lobby in his arm, his other hand rubbing Lily's back as she snuggled into him.

"There's nothing we can do right now… that's what I hate the most," Lincoln replied. They could only hope that their two comrades would come out of this incident alive and safe. She could tell how much it was burdening his mind.

"Sitting around isn't going to get anything done, Lincoln! If Lazzerson did do this, we can't just ignore it and let him get away with it!" Ronnie Anne argued.

"And neither will kicking down his front door and jumping him! All we'd do then is just get more people hurt for no real end goal," Lincoln butted heads with his girlfriend. Being a couple both with high authority would inevitably lead to the disagreements. Lincoln would gladly assault Lazzerson if they had any clue or shred of evidence pointing them their direction.

"Alright, love birds. Either make up, have sex, or shut up," they heard. Lincada stood at the doorway. She began to walk in with the strange stride of confidence.

"Sorry, sis… bad things happened again," Lincoln apologized, guessing their argument was heard from outside.

"Two of our workers might die… we'll find out later," Ronnie Anne informed her boyfriend's twin.

"How'd your meeting with the family go?" Lincoln popped the question since he presumed it was dealt with.

"Mom's crying, dad's trying to comfort her and everyone else is confused and lost, trying to ask me a million things… so Santiago, mind distracting them for a bit?" Lincada requested, "I'd like to talk with my dear brother alone."

"Alright… I guess I should go tell them what happened, anyway," Ronnie Anne sighed, coming over to her boyfriend and taking Lobby from him to return her to Lori.

"Come on, Lily," the Santiago girl motioned her. Lily nodded, getting out of her brother's lap and holding Ronnie Anne's hand as they began to leave the office. Lincada closed the door behind them.

"Heh… how much did they hug you? I'm sure Lynn, Lucy and Lori were especially glad to meet you," Lincoln tried to lighten up the tense situation, but his twin shrugged.

"They all were more confused than anything… though mom and dad are upset… not because they finally got to saw me," Lincada walked to the set of windows behind her brother that let the office illuminate while giving view to the outside.

"Was it over the ventilator?" Lincoln got up, stepping beside her to see what she was looking at. He knew seeing their child with a ventilator would make any parent upset. There certainly were a lot of traffic people abuzz on the streets and walking along the sidewalks as another normal day passed.

"No… it's because I told them they were failures," Lincada yawned, before she whistled her Great Dane coming over receiving several pets from her.

"Wait… you told them what?" Lincoln questioned, "Or is this another sanity lapse on my part?"

"I said, I called them failures. Failures who detached themselves from me emotionally since I was a surprise twin," Lincada repeated in full detail, "I guess I don't blame them though. I'd be happy if someone took a twin child I didn't expect out of my lives to handle the burden, too."

Her brother casting an obvious hate filled gaze to her. "I know you're upset that they gave up… But that's a lot different than being a failure. The only failure in this family is me so far."

"I see myself that way, too…" Lincada spoke again, not arguing that point, "Bismuth being really new doesn't help the stress either… least we can say we're failures together."

Silence fell from there for a moment. This topic was either very depressing, or they were equally aware it would lead to a volatile argument.

"Who is your mafia's leader, anyway? And do all the members have tattoos on their teeth?" Lincoln requested, seeing his twin's eyes glaze over. She presented a bright toothy grin at him, displaying their smooth, slightly white color. They were about as well taken care of as his teeth.

"Why would I do that to myself? I'm the leader of them anyway."

"Wait… you lead the bismuth mafia? Why didn't you say anything?!" Lincoln questioned. He wondered if this was why she had been lying to him all this time for the last year.

"At first, I didn't… then the two who did run it had an unfortunate accident and I took over… it really was sad. They raised me, too," she explained, scaring him with how emotionless she was about it. She had become leader through inheritance, and once Jayzo had been taken to jail, then came the signal to start the slow and long advancement to Royal Woods.

"Does that mean you're the one who made those weirdoes attack my sisters?" Lincoln was furious now, "I can't believe you, Lincada! Bobby had to get surgery from one of your guys biting him!"

His twin then shoved a piece of candy into his mouth.

"Stop crying! All I did was order them to explore all of Lazzerson's turf. just because your family coincidentally got in the way doesn't mean I sent them after them," she defused the argument, watching her brother just swallow the chocolate she had made him consume, "I actually came in here to talk with you about that. How would it sound to be able to get rid of Lazzerson? All we have to do is merge our groups together, and once he's gone, we can take over Royal Woods from behind the scenes."

"You make it sound so easy… Of course we need the workers, but what would getting together do beyond telling Lazzerson he only has one group to wipe out instead of two?" Lincoln asked, appreciating the confidence. He loved the idea of being able to end it all so easily before bringing peace completely back.

"Simple. I have some special toys that can let us get to him easy…" Lincada showed her same toothy grin, "When we get to him, we just have to kill him, and then…"

"Nope."

"What?" Lincada's toothy grin vanished.

"We don't kill anybody, sis."

"Really?! So you want to waste time getting a drug lord arrested?" Lincada argued, "We don't have a year to let some undercover idiot collect evidence, that is if one can survive a year without being discovered. I can have him dead right on the dot. I can also take the most important buildings away from him."

"Tell me how the undercover officer does, then," Lincoln flatly said, not budging from his position, "Besides… weren't you against killing the other day? Or is that another story?"

"Don't you want your family to be happy? What kind of idiot would avoid a chance to make so many so happy and end it so fast!?" she continued to argue, her service animal sleeping beside her.

"It's our family! Not just mine, but yours, too… We're not going to kill anyone as long as we can help it. I don't care what you want to say in reply. Either adapt, or get lost," Lincoln ordered while brushing his hair. She may be his long lost twin but he was not going to let that be an excuse to murder without any care, or obey every command of hers.

"I'm going to go help explain things to everyone. You take it easy, sis," Lincoln then walked out of the office. Lincada shook her head in disappointment, and then looked to her dog.

"Well… we have four bombs left. If he won't stop Lazzerson, then I will. That should prove how much better it would have been if he merged," Lincada began to leave for the door with a plan in mind to head out of the building, her dog following, "Guess Lincoln didn't buy the 'love to make things better' act. So let's make sure that Lazzerson regrets even staring at any of us. That'll prove ourselves."


	69. Revenge

**Authors Note: I wanted to thank you all again for the support this fic has gotten, even though it is nearing the end (I have no idea how many chapters are left.) I hope you all are enjoying it though, I'm sorry for the last few chapters being horrible.**

Lazzerson lay on a long sofa. Several liquor bottles lay scattered around his personal room of his base, some of which were broken. The room had graffiti all over the walls and ceiling. The case he normally carried his blunts in lay overturned, completely empty.

"Yo, Lazzers, get up."

He groaned in response, sitting up and seeing a woman that looked quite strong, with long black hair in a small tank top and short jeans.

"What is it, Bailey?" Lazzerson groaned. Bailey was his second-in-charge of his mafia, and she mainly handled how things were spread out which drugs were primarily needed the most where. Lazzerson picked up another of the whiskey bottles he had received. He tried to drink from it, but Bailey took it from him.

"You've gone way past your daily limit on the weed alone! You've already drunk down three bottles of this crap in an hour, it's amazing you're still alive after the rest!" Bailey tossed the bottle aside, hearing it break to pieces.

"Jeez, Bailey, chill…! Sorry, but it hurts a lot right now. It's either do two somewhat legal things together, or do one really illegal thing," Lazzerson carelessly replied. To his disappointment, he was out of both. That bottle of whiskey was his last one.

"Well, a good few guys are dead. We lost a building due to a bombing, seems like someone got careless in one of the labs… and someone here wants to see you," Bailey filled her boss in.

"Whatevs… I'm not in the mood to deal with every poor moron we see. Just toss 'em a ring and a bag of the blue rocks and get'em outta here," Lazzerson ordered. That was what they always did whenever a drug addict came to beg for another hit of whatever they needed. It was sadly very easy to trap someone with their addiction.

"Lazzers, hear me out here! This girl's got lots of rings on and she looks a lot like that new leader of the ruby animal crew," Bailey claimed. Her boss's attention was now grabbed. He chuckled, thinking maybe it was his lucky day.

"Alright, let her in… maybe she has more whiskey for me," Lazzerson laughed, hoping for another delivery from Lincoln, a forgotten bottle of liquor or two from their deal if anything. He could be glad that the boy followed deals through.

"Be good to her. The poor thing looks like a mess. I don't need to hear beaver boy knocking on our door because you got her hooked on drugs," the second-in-charge requested. Lazzerson rolled his eyes, not caring for the jokes. He let her leave while he waited.

"Well, this is a surprise," the drug lord spoke to Lincada as he saw her and her Great Dane step into the room.

"What is? Don't worry, I can assure you I'm real," the white haired girl retorted jokingly. One look in the room and she could tell he was intoxicated and depressed out of his skull.

"Good one… I'm just surprised by your appearance," Lazzerson replied. He knew Lincoln had a twin sister, but he had not anticipated her to look so rough. The scars and the ventilator made her more intimidating, whilst the dog did the opposite.

"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about? I'm not in a good mood, if ya couldn't tell," Lazzerson said. He waved his hand to motion Bailey to leave them alone, and she did. The teenage girl was not of much threat to them anyway. With Bailey out of the room, the two could make amends privately.

"If I pretend to care, will that get you not to mope about? You see, I came to negotiate… if it wasn't obvious, there's a new mafia in town, and I lead it," Lincada presented the rings that covered her hands of various shapes, giving a big grin, "We're the Bismuth group."

"What a surprise… Welcome to Michigan's scene. Guess it's a good thing you showed up. We had someone get several life sentences a year ago," Lazzerson exclaimed while he was leaned back. Having another mafia step in to fill into the role of the third group, to unintentionally make sure no one warred with each other directly like a peace keeper.

"I know. Jayzo shot my brother… And let me just say, I'm glad that cyborg freak's gone," Lincada said while she took a seat nearby, her dog lying off to the side to rest like always, "That idiot ruining his own life made things a lot easier for us to get to here."

"I get what you're saying… so what is it you want to negotiate about? Your brother and I get along just fine so far. He's now more interested in getting his crew to start doing more charitable things or the likes to fix their reputation… I doubt they can undo all Nora's done," Lazzerson questioned, and then he saw an angry expression grow on her face.

"I'm not my twin, am I? No, if you really want specifics, I'm that one failure that they tried hard to forget about… So let me say this right now… I want some of your turf… and by some, I mean a lot of it," Lincada tapped her hand on the table. She then heard Lazzerson laughing loudly, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Haahahahah! Whoo… good one, kid. I once tried to recruit a comedian to upset your brother. All I got for that was a long death threat letter from Nora," he sighed. Having enjoyed the good laugh, he went back to the topic at hand she had presented.

"So you want some of my turf? Do you know how much just one building in my possession is? Thousands! Nora's is the factory that supplies the other Michigan cities with drugs, after all," Lazzerson declared. To most that would be something horrible to know. The town they once saw as a nice calm place to live had all this evil going on behind the scenes.

"I don't care. The only thing I'm going to offer, in exchange for some of your turf, is sparing your life. So how about you man up and start taking this seriously!" Lincada sneered. Once again, Lazzerson laughed in reply.

"Pppaahahahah… Kid, you're really funny, even if I'm mostly wasted… If you got something nice to offer, I could maybe trade."

"…okay. How about this?" the young female twin pulled out her phone and presented him a few pictures on it.

"What's this?" Lazzerson asked, viewing the images. They appeared to depict several random areas with rectangular devices set up all around. Some looked familiar to him, but he couldn't tell.

"A year ago, there was an accident where bombs got planted in the wrong location, so they couldn't be detonated. The same guy who planted them worked for Nora, so he retrieved them for us," she then tapped the phone while she explained, "If you don't agree to the terms I wish for, you'll lose the biggest buildings that had the most drug labs, as well as most of your customers… or workers, whatever you call those brain-melted morons you hired."

"…You're lying," Lazzerson did not believe this was anymore than a smart kid trying to manipulate photographs to trick him. Lincada sighed, and pulled out a long remote with five switches on it. All but one was green, the first having been flipped already.

"One's in this building, too… And let me just say that I have plenty of backup detonators, so don't even bother trying to snatch this one. If you think I care about killing a bunch of morons that ruined their lives just because they got too hard to handle… then you're gravely mistaken," Lincada then flicked the second switch.

"No way…" Lazzerson felt the ground rumble like a small earthquake. He looked out of a window to see a cloud of black smoke filling the sky in the distance.

"If I memorized it right, that was your major apartment complex; half-housing for your drug addicts, half labs to give them drugs. I bet that's millions out of your pocket," Lincada hummed happily. She felt him grab her by the throat and pin her against the wall.

"You little terrorist! You destroyed a lot of my resources!" Lazzerson's grip on her throat tightened, "You crossed the line, little girl! I'm going to strangle the life out of you!"

"You can't strangle me. I breathe through this stupid ventilator."

"…fine. Then I'll just do this!" He punched her in the face, throwing her aside. Lincada groaned, lying on the floor.

"I guess the deal's off? Oh well," she giggled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a dog whistle. She brought it to her lips and began to blow.

"What are you doin' with that… thing?" Lazzerson's voice trailed off, turning to his left when he heard a low growling. The Great Dane was fully up, his sharp teeth showing while snarling. Lincada went over and took a knife out, that had been hidden in her service dog's vest. It looked sharp enough to hack through a thick piece of wood.

"I never needed a service animal for any particular reason… But he does make for a good pack mule. Lazzerson, let me just tell you about one of your drug addicted failures… Michael Badder… one of the two who raised me. Because you kept giving him this disgusting meth stuff, he kept taking them until he murdered his sister, because she tried to stop him," Lincada stated with no emotion to her voice, rubbing the knife on her sleeve, "Sick'em, boy."

The Great Dane lunged for Lazzerson, sinking his teeth into his neck. The man could not even let out a scream as he fell to the floor, gagging and coughing up blood. Lincada stepped beside him, while her dog kept him pinned.

"Those two saved me from the trash can. The person your goon sold me to got sick of me, so they threw me away like a broken toy. I could never get emotionally attached to anyone anymore after all this. One of your workers stole me the day I was born, hurting the ones that made me, and you ruined the lives of the two raising me. I figured I should pay the favor back," Lincada declared while rubbing a hand along the dog's back.

"Screw you… k-kid!" Lazzerson spat, the dog's teeth piercing further into his neck.

"Nice last words. I'll make sure to track down those precious little girls of yours and let them know their daddy had a vicious accident with a doggy…" she giggled, giving him that disturbing grin, "You made a mistake trusting a poor little innocent girl. Grane… chomp!"

Lazzerson began to feel the dog jerk back its head, tearing and pulling at his throat, his wind pipe crunched, and blood began to spurt out like an intense fountain. Lincada pocketed the detonator.

"Man… Lazzers has been a while… Usually by now, he's requesting more weed," Bailey thought to herself as she climbed up the steps, and then knocked on the door, "Everything going okay in there?"

"Help!" she heard Lincada cry out in terror. Bailey kicked the door in, and instantly, she was horrified. Lazzerson lay on the floor, his neck torn wide open. The Great Dane stood over him snarling, its face soaked in blood. Lincada sat in the nearby corner, crying.

"W-what happened?!"

"M-my dog went nuts and attacked us!" She cried. The Great Dane charged for Bailey, but the woman kicked the dog in the face, hearing it yelp as it landed on the other side of the room. Bailey went to pick Lincada up in her arms.

"Come on let's get out of- gack!" Bailey gasped, feeling a sharp pain in her chest. She instantly fell back against the wall and dropped Lincada.

"Thanks for saving me… Sadly, this is the end of your mafia," Lincada stopped her act, a knife now prominently sticking out of Bailey's chest from where she stabbed her. She clapped her hands, the Great Dane coming over to his master.

"Come on, Grane. Let's go tell our brother the great news," Lincada insisted, the two leaving on that note. Bailey was left lying there, bleeding heavily. All she could do was crawl to Lazzerson and put her hand in his.

"Sorry I couldn't protect you… It was fun, Lazzers…"

Without Bailey, it was very easy for Lincada to make it back outside with ease. The many drug addicts were uncaring or worthless without direct orders. Once outside, the bismuth leader pulled the detonator back out.

"Let this be the start of our rule over Michigan," Lincada laughed. Once she and her pet were far enough away, she flipped the first switch on the detonator, and just like that the main headquarters for Lazzerson's building began to crumble with one large explosion from deep within it, the panicked screams of those inside echoing. The girl and her dog continued on their way, her desire for revenge satisfied.

"Lincoln is going to be so happy…"


	70. Shattered Bonds

The next day, Royal Woods seemed so far normal for the Loud family. Lincoln was in his room, trying to get himself prepared for the day, trying to get a tie on.

"Starting to think a tie is overkill for my new uniform…" Lincoln sighed. He never was good at putting on ties. He felt good looking with the rest of his family's mementos and gifts dawned on him.

"Kind of ironic, isn't it? You're the reason they stopped having a mandatory uniform a year ago, and yet here you are in a suit," Ronnie Anne laughed while lying on his bed where she had spent the night, relaxing. Bobby was scheduled to get out of the hospital later today thankfully.

"Ronnie Anne, if there was one word to describe my life, it would be irony," Lincoln nodded in agreement. He took the tie off and tossed it aside, giving up on it, and just began to fix up his undershirt, his suit top hanging from a clothes hanger.

"Won't disagree there… I normally wouldn't admit this kind of stuff, but it felt actually nice to share a bed with you," Ronnie Anne said. Maybe it was because she had not been around him a lot in the last year, but after that first time they shared a bed at their headquarters, she found herself desiring it repeatedly.

"You're really a lot more open lately… I know I shouldn't complain, but is there something you're not telling me?" Lincoln took a seat beside her. His girlfriend had already gotten dressed in a purple short sleeved shirt that had white stripes on it, and denim jeans. At the moment, the two's attires looked like polar opposites.

"Well, ever since you went into that coma, I haven't been able to go one day without feeling horrible or regretful… Realizing that any day can be your last is a real eye opener," Ronnie Anne answered, that near-death experience was bad enough for him, yet the knowledge that Jayzo almost had shot her as well was even worse.

"Trust me; I know what you mean… That's why people live for more than themselves. I remember that time we broke up for a month, that was the worst month of my life," Lincoln reassured her it was normal to feel scared. Sometimes facing every day with confidence was harder than the last. He guessed that keeping everything secret and bottled up was what made it so bad.

"Yeah, I remember… it was miserable for me too," Ronnie Anne nodded. Her boyfriend had tried to fight multiple battles for her at one point in school. She had insisted she could handle herself, but she broke up with him when he said only a bad boyfriend would let his girlfriend fight alone.

"Remind me to thank Clyde again later," Lincoln chuckled. His best friend was the reason they were back together. Ronnie Anne had gone a bit ballistic on Clyde between classes, and Lincoln had pulled her aside to talk to her. Things repaired themselves from there.

"Sure… say, where's the witch anyway?" The Santiago girl wondered. They had not seen Lincada since yesterday. Lincoln was the last one to speak with her, and their conversation had not ended too well either.

"I don't know, but she really upset everyone… Guess that was kind of my fault for finding her without knowing who she truly was, huh?" Lincoln sighed. He knew Lincada was lying to him a lot for some reason. Sadly he was fully aware that they were missing out on a lot, but he wanted to trust his twin. No matter how hard it was.

"Considering you both have this astral projection deal going on, I doubt you'd spend a whole week without her bugging you either physically or spiritually," Ronnie Anne stated. Her boyfriend smirked at that comment. He did his best to not use his astral projection for long, and mainly used it to quickly scan the halls to make sure it was safe half the time, since without a ventilator, the ability was so short that it was basically worthless.

"It's cool until you start to feel your body writhing for you to return…" he stated while turning on the small television in his room. It was outdated, but he had since changed their motto from 'make do with what you can' to 'do with what you have for convenience'.

"Hey… turn it up, Lame-o. They're talking about Lazzerson," Ronnie Anne said, her boyfriend turning up the volume as requested. The news, a picture of Lazzerson was presented beside the reporter.

"Here I stand in what can only be called a great tragedy. Lazzerson Cenvary, a man with an outstanding charge for dealing illegal methamphetamines all over the country, is now confirmed deceased. From what the autopsy report reads, his throat was torn up, most likely from sharp piping that fell when the collapse of the building occurred. It seemed his last efforts were stabbing his girlfriend in the heart."

"What in the name of Nora…?" Lincoln stared as the news station changed to show the reporter standing out front of Lazzerson's primary base, which was now nothing more than rubble, with firefighters and police going through its leftover mess.

"Unfortunately, this building was one of seemingly four in a series of terrorist strikes. Many say it is good that this happened, since police had plenty of reasons to believe Lazzerson was supplying the illegal drugs all over Michigan, but never could make direct arrests," the reporter finished, before Lincoln muted the TV. All he could do was sit on the bed and hold his head.

"Poor Lazzerson… No one deserves to die like that," Ronnie Anne murmured. Just imagining it was horrible, but she wondered why her boyfriend was so upset, considering it was an enemy gang leader that was now deceased, "Lincoln, what's wrong?"

"The news said he stabbed his girlfriend… but that can't be true. Lazzerson wouldn't blindly kill someone, Ronnie Anne… It seems like we've got another demon in the static trying to distract us," Lincoln replied. He knew Lazzerson Cenvary was just a man in pain, trying to make things feel better. The lone Santiago girl understood what her boyfriend was saying. Jayzo was in jail and Lazzerson was resting in peace, but they were far from able to relax yet since this was obviously no accident.

"We'll be fine… you always manage to find a way to pull through in the end," Ronnie Anne wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, aware of why and how upset he had become, and how panicked he was. Every time something happened, it was never small. The young couple now had to deal with the burden of informing the rest of their families of what had just transpired yesterday.

Hours passed, and everyone was ready for work. The day had been a quiet and glum one. Some wanted to celebrate their practical victory in the Michigan mob wars, while others wanted to be respectful and treat the drug lord's death with as much sensitivity as they would anyone else, since Lazzerson never directly harmed them or went out of his way to harass the ruby animal mafia.

"I don't think we should go ordering people around today… I'll let them handle their own assignments like normal," Lincoln told his girlfriend while they walked through their headquarters. He adjusted his sunglasses on his head. There were no other mafias left to threaten them, so no one needed to be cautious or afraid. At most, they just needed to worry about pitiful street gangs.

"If it's any consolation, I ordered our people to work with the police to try and arrest any of the drug addicts…" Ronnie Anne informed her fiancé, "Without Lazzerson, they're going to be getting pretty desperate."

"That's great…! It's probably for the best, Ronnie Anne. Us making sure they get help is all we can do," Lincoln agreed. Since everyone that was addicted to anything Lazzerson produced were now either going to start trying even more dangerous questionable substances, or committing crimes to get money to buy more drugs from other sources, instead of working for them.

"Hey Lincoln, do you have any jobs for us?" Luan requested, she and Lucy greeting her brother, though the gothic was more interested in reading her book of the occult.

"Not that I know… I'll let you guys find your own work today. Lisa might be able to help you find something to do," Lincoln apologized. Everyone in his family or around him could tell that he was having a rough day. Trying to stay strong for everyone else was another problem.

"Try to relax. Being stressed isn't going to do you any good," Lucy said.

"I'll try… good luck," her brother bid them farewell, and he and Ronnie Anne continued to his office, where he realized that the door was already open. He peeked in to see who entered.

"Clyde? Why are you in my office?" Lincoln questioned upon seeing his best friend there. No one was supposed to be in here alone without the boss, and the door was supposed to be locked when he was gone. Only he, Ronnie Anne and Lisa had the keys to the room.

"Sorry, dude. I tried to stop her from coming in… all I could do was just make sure she didn't make a mess around here," Clyde claimed. They saw Lincada leaned back in the comfy chair behind the desk, having forced the door open, her Great Dane nearby gnawing on a bone.

"Oh… it's okay, Clyde… I know my twin can be a handful," Lincoln thanked his best friend for making sure his office was not ruined by her.

"What's so important that you had to break in, Lincada?" Ronnie Anne came over. She wondered what was going on with the service animal. The big dog was not acting lazy like normal, but nothing unusual otherwise.

"I'm here to celebrate! There are no other mafias left, beyond the bismuth and rubies," Lincada seemed very happy right now. The trio of very close ruby animal members were unable to see this as anything short of immoral talk of dozens of people's lives being lost by unwarranted terrorist attacks.

"I don't see what's to be so happy about, Lincada. Michigan may be better without Lazzerson, but Royal Woods is going to increase with criminal activity," Lincoln replied. His twin yawned, uncaring about the seriousness in her twin's voice.

"You don't think I know that when I did it?" Lincada responded.

"Did what?" The Santiago girl wondered.

"When I killed him. Remember yesterday, Lincoln? I told you I had the means to end his life on the dot, so I went to do it to prove it. I even destroyed nearly all his biggest assets of buildings," Lincada answered with a laugh, seeming overjoyed, and then pointed to her dog, "Grane there tore his throat open… All the obedience training he got really helped."

"…You didn't…" Lincoln's vocal chords were frozen. His best friend and fiancée were wordless, unable to tell if this was a joke or not.

"I did… now we can merge our two groups and rule Royal Woods! Look, I even have one of the detonators on me," Lincada insisted, pulling out the long detonator. all the switches but one were flipped and red, indicating they had been triggered.

"Wha… Why would you do any of that?! You broke the turf war rules! …I think," Clyde claimed. He had not memorized all of the rules himself yet, but targeting Lazzerson and many of his members at their homes was against such rules. And one of the buildings that got hit by the bombing was an apartment complex that the drug addicts presumably lived within.

"Take over Royal Woods?! Are you insane?! What are you even saying?!" Ronnie Anne added. The two looked to their white haired boss.

"You killed… a lot of people…" Lincoln gripped one hand on the desk furiously, "How could you do this…?"

"Those idiots gave up their lives when they first picked up a syringe or a crack pipe. What if a few hollow shells died?" Lincada retorted. She suddenly got grabbed by the collar of her shirt by her brother.

"I told you yesterday, Lincada, and you ignored it; We don't kill! That's what we worked so hard to make sure stayed unchanged! Maddison and David are barely alive because of you! You weren't just careless… You were… terrible! You did anything to stomp out someone you saw as in the way…" Lincoln let go of his twin.

"Who cares about the casualties?" Lincada scoffed, "It's over. We won, and it's all thanks to me! We just simply need to merge now, and become an even stronger force…"

"Merge? After this?! No way!" Lincoln slammed one fist onto the desk, "You killed dozens of people, Lincada, including Lazzerson! How can we merge together after this? How are you even going to live with yourself?! What do you think mom and dad, or any of our family say when I tell them what you did?! It sure isn't going to be you who has to look them in the eye and tell them that a long-lost family member turned out to be some crazy terrorist serial killer!"

"They aren't my family. They're your family. The only reason why your parents care about you or your family, is because you can donate organs when they need them," Lincada responded, "The rest of those idiots are only playing along to help you, because they feel bad that you bought them expensive things! Why'd you think they got involved with the mafia in the first place?"

Lincoln paused, frozen for a second. That was the last straw for him. "Get out…"

"What? You can't be serious?"

"I am serious! I want you out of here right this second! You want to treat them this way? Well I won't let you! I tried to treat you and welcome you into this family, but you just tried to use us for an attempt at some insane megalomaniacal goal!" Lincoln shoved her toward the door. Ronnie Anne and Clyde had never seen Lincoln this upset or angry before, especially without that dangerous Jianko formula from a year ago.

"If you don't leave this town with your crew in the next week, I'm going to come find you, make sure you get arrested. And when I do, I'm gonna make sure you get professional help… The only reason I'm not going to do anything right now, is out of idiotic hope that you might have a shred of remorse," Lincoln explained. Lincada glared at him as he took the detonator that had been left on his desk. He planned on asking Lisa to dismantle it. Too bad Lincada didn't tell him about the backup detonators she had.

"You're going to regret this, bro. This was the once in a lifetime opportunity, and you blew it. I have a lot more idiots working for me than you can ever have," she replied, as she whistled for her service dog to come along.

"Don't call me 'bro'. You hate the Louds, right? I have to deal with telling everyone what you did, and to prepare the report for the police… Now get lost," Lincoln ordered. Lincada did just what she was told, leaving with her service animal to vacate the premises.

"Dude… are you okay?" Clyde requested. Lincoln rested his sunglasses on the desk, holding his head.

"Why would you cut her any slack?" Ronnie Anne asked. They both could see his hand bleeding heavily from the hard punch he had delivered to the desk.

"Because she's still a family member… I hope she'll make the right choice and seek help, but… I'm starting to realize there is no hope," Lincoln answered. He had given his female twin that chance to either flee to another country or go back to Lansing to fight whatever groups were there for power. He wanted his twin to turn herself in, but he doubted she would at all.

"…I'm sorry dude… Do you want me to go gather up your sisters?" Clyde offered to get the announcement out of the way offering to go gather all his sisters in his office.

"Go ahead… thanks, Clyde," Lincoln sighed, letting him leave to do just that.

"Lincoln…" Ronnie Anne got nearer to Lincoln as he regained his temper. His anger was vanishing, but he was still upset.

"I'm a failure, Ronnie Anne… Just a tool… Nora should have just put a knife through my head the day we first met…" Lincoln panted while his fiancée came over, after getting the first aid kit that was rested on a nearby shelf for emergencies. He wished he was not alive. All he thought he had done was turned his family's lives into a living nightmare.

"Lame-o, quit sounding stupid. You already survived more near-death experiences than most, and you've come too far to give up now. Michigan is going to at least be safer. Because of you, Lily and Lobby will be able to grow up safely, it also makes our futures a bit brighter." Ronnie Anne reassured him. Whether they liked how it happened or not, all the mafias were gone, except the bismuth group. It was saddening to see how upset he was, they could handle whatever trouble came at them.

"…Thanks, Ronnie Anne… I just wish I could have done something…" he sniffled. All he could do was continue his position as leader to try and keep Royal Woods safer, and make things better. He knew how angry Lincada was, but doubted she would do much, he wished he never got to meet her true self.

"Hopefully today, things will be able to start going back to normal…"


	71. Calm Before The Storm?

Lincada was excommunicated, exiled from the Loud family, and cut off from any contact Lincoln had with her. She had not made any effort to apologize, or leave without showing any signs of guilt. When Lincoln used all of his guts to tell his family what had happened, no one took it well at all. Everyone did not initially believe it, until he presented the detonator and other pieces of evidence.

One month had passed since then. Through that long month, all that the truth had brought was tears, regret and remorse. It made Lincada's word to their parents that they were failures sink the emotional scar deeper than ever, deeper beyond repair. The Loud father had done something he hasn't done in ten years, and that was missing a day of work, and their mother had accidentally hurt a patient when aiding in the dental office from how distracted she was.

"Ohh…" Lincoln felt his eyes begin to flutter open, lying in his bed, when he felt someone cuddled up to him. He looked over to see Lily in his bed, lying between him and Ronnie Anne.

"Heh… you're sneaky, aren't you…" Lincoln thought while stroking Lily's head, glad that she was getting more hair. Seeing Bun-Bun in her other arm was cute to him as well. He was happy that she had taken good care of the hand-me-down he had given her, at least she looked like she was having a good dream.

"I'll let them sleep in," he got out of bed, pulling the blanket over his baby sister and fiancée then leaving his room, heading for the stairs. He guessed that no one else was awake yet since it was early.

"What's good for breakfast?" Lincoln pondered while looking through the cabinets. Now that there were no other mafias in Michigan, things had become a million times more relaxing. Everyone was able to work in peace. Several gangs had tried to form mafias and make their stake in the mafia world, but for every gang that tried, they were intercepted and halted by the ruby animal group without a shred of trouble. They did not give them much of a chance to form their groups, it was easy thankfully to halt them all.

"Morning, bro," Luna spoke up as she walked into the kitchen, looking ready for the day already. She had a small scar where her piercing used to be. Sadly, Luna was not going to be able to put another piercing back in its place because of how sensitive the area was.

"Oh, good morning, Luna… got anything planned for today?" Lincoln asked while he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Yup! I got a concert going on later today… that is, if you'll let me miss out on work today, boss," Luna teased him with her answer, not stopping with referring to her only brother as boss, and it still was irritating to him after a month of tolerating it, yet every time she said it the word somehow got more and more aggravating.

"Oh, Luna… You know you don't have to ask. I'm not in control of everyone's lives," Lincoln replied. He hated it when his siblings asked him for time off when they were basically volunteered workers. He was just glad his sister's music career was going well.

"Heh… thanks bro. I better get going. I have a lot to prepare for," Luna thanked him, just grabbing some toast before she headed off to get ready for her concert later this afternoon. Lincoln rubbed his head, planning on relaxing, until he heard his cellphone ringing.

"Talk to me," the ruby animal mafia leader answered, leaning back in his chair while sat at the table.

"Hey, boss. We got a problem here at the Chop Shop… and with Maddison, but that's something else," David responded. Lincoln did not like the sound of either situation. After a week or so, the two had survived their near death experience, but they still suffered a lot for it and had their own wounds to bear from the bombing.

"How bad is it?" Lincoln asked, worriedly.

"Pretty bad… get over as soon as ya can."

"Alright… Hang in there, David," after their boss agreed to get right over, David hung up. Lincoln stood up and bolted out the door, doubting he had time to get ready. He just hoped whatever was going on at the chop shop, was not messy.

"We can't kill him. It's against the rules…" David argued to Estrella as she paced back and forth in her usual grease soaked work attire. The chain smoker only had one arm now, the other unable to be saved in the explosion a month ago. Most of the mafia was relieved when Lincoln declared murder would be met with nothing but swift outing to the authorities, after punishment. Everyone was more than happy to spare lives.

"I didn't ask if I cared! This guy did thousands in damages, and that's not something I can just clap my hands together and fix! It's going to take weeks to fix every last one of those! You aren't the one who has to go to the boss for approval, either," Estrella retorted very angrily. Nearby was a man with black hair in his late thirties, bound and gagged to a chair.

"Approval for what? Come on, Estrella. I'm not that scary," Lincoln spoke up while entering into the garage. The rest of the shutters were closed, so he had to climb through a window to get inside. This was not the first time he had to do this. The two friends of his turned to him.

"Hey there, boss…" Estrella welcomed their mafia group's leader, "Sorry, just. This guy screwed us a lot."

Lincoln looked to the poor person captured, and wondered what they had done to deserve a violent beating on top of their capturing. "What'd he do?"

"We were working on three very important cars," David lit a cigarette as he spoke, "We were going to swap out the good parts for bad and sell the cars off at full price… but then this guy snuck in and broke every last one while we were out picking up some tools. The guy doesn't have a single ring on him, either."

"My guess is he's just a random street punk, whose father didn't hit him enough growing up," Estrella growled, though their boss was remaining calm about the ordeal. After checking the man's hands and seeing not a single ring on any finger, Lincoln had an idea, and went over to the bound and gagged man.

"Sorry, this is going to hurt," Lincoln apologized, wanting to hear all sides before he decided to do anything. Thousands in damages was not just money out of his own pocket, but damage to the entire ruby animal mafia and everyone in it. Whatever Lincoln did, would be added to the reputation their group had. Good or bad.

"Yeow!" the man cried when the tape and sock were removed. Lincoln rolled his eyes, thinking he was just overreacting to how much it hurt.

"I know you won't talk… there's only one thing I need to see," Lincoln claimed, aware that it was not like a random gangster to just go blindly attacking an important business.

"Are you just trying to get him mad?" David chuckled, seeing the restrained man spit on Lincoln's face.

"Sorry, I forgot… which one of us is the adult here?" Lincoln rhetorically asked while wiping his face. It was sad to see people twice his age acting like a child not getting his way. He stood up, not able to see what he was looking for.

"Let me tell you something. I have a very comfortable position of ownership over my company… I'll be blunt; this could be a great thing that you showed up. I know you don't have any reason to speak to me or them, but maybe it would be best if this accidental meeting could be forgotten," Lincoln finished after his long talk.

"What?! You're seriously considering letting this waste of human life walk out without so much as a threat?!" Estrella could not believe what she was hearing. The chain smoker blew out a puff of smoke, motioning her to ease up. Their boss knew what he was doing, so he hoped.

"But you could join us… whatever you did can be worked off. I know you had a reason. Maybe one of our members messed with you, or you're doing a dumb dare given to you by your friends… So can you just show me those teeth, and we'll talk about how we can work things out?" Lincoln offered. He was actually scaring his workers with how he surprised them.

"Wow he's… talking like a nicer Nora…" David coughed out the scary realization. Lincoln's coercion had worked. The man showed his teeth like a patient to a dentist.

"I figured…" Lincoln murmured. On the man's golden teeth was the writing 'Bismuth' in a cursive style. He then stood up, "Lincada sent you… didn't she?"

"She said… she said she could make my gambling debt go away, if I just do something to you guys," the man explained,

"You beat up and bullied my friends when they were trying to just make money, and then got them arrested! That screwed me bad!"

Lincoln shook his head, and he placed a hand on the man's head. "If your friends were anything like you, I did them a favor getting them time in jail… Do you have a family?"

"Yeah… my wife and… my little girl's turned eight a month ago… I haven't been able to feed them or keep them housed well. It's just… I just wanted to make things better," the man explained. It was just as Lincoln feared. Lincada had preyed on a poor and desperate man to get back at her twin somehow, the worst part was he doubted this was the first nor only one.

"Maybe if you quit shoving gold in your mouth, and putting everything in your wallet into slot machines, they'd be happy with their father," Lincoln shook his head, "It's one thing to try your best and do anything to help your family, but it's another thing when you were the one to screw them over to begin with… do you honestly think you can change and make things better for them? Or maybe I should just call the police and child protective services, they'd get them real help."

"Yeah… I'm sorry for doing damage… just please don't kill me!" the man begged looking ready to break down.

"Heh… when did I say we were going to kill you?" Lincoln chuckled, and then turned to Estrella, "Estrella, I know you've got a ring lying around. Give it to him after you untie him… as of right now, mister…?"

"Lance," the man gave it away just for him.

"Thanks. Estrella, give Mister Lance here a ring. He's your underling now. Congrats on getting the help you've told me you needed… and don't worry. Anything you need for repairs and damages is approved," Lincoln ordered, before he began to head toward the door with his hands behind his head. Estrella positively was fuming right now.

"Wait for me, boss. I need help with something, too. It's about Maddison," David caught up to Lincoln when they got outside.

"Alright…" the teenager nodded, having not forgotten, "I need to get to my office, so let's go there. I think a nightmare is hitting Royal Woods soon."


	72. A Normal Morning?

This was one rough start to a morning, between the thousands of dollars in damages and a big sign of the bismuth group still being active within Royal Woods.

"Please tell me again what Maddison is doing?" Lincoln rubbed his head sorely. This was not the second or third repeat, but the eighth. It was that hard to believe this, especially for the Mad Batter.

"…She found her kids. One murdered the other and then killed themselves in prison years later… They were buried next to each other. I tried to talk her out of it, but Maddison wants to go dig up their graves," David stated, irritated, having smoked the last five cigarettes of his in less than twenty minutes flat.

"I knew one got murdered, but I wasn't aware of the suicide… how'd she find out?" Lincoln requested. It seemed too coincidental that bismuth and Lincada would start reappearing and the Mad Batter learning of her children's deceased status.

"I don't know but I tried to tell her to accept it, but she kept telling me that she already had accepted it… but she had to see them herself for proof," David claimed. His girlfriend was insane, yet this was a little overboard for her to violate the burial grounds of a cemetery.

"Which graveyard?" Lincoln requested while pulling a small red bottle of Cora's Quick Energy Brew Coffee out of his desk.

"The Pinebrook Cemetery… sheesh, you must be running on empty if you need one of those," David claimed while walking beside him. Lincoln was chugging the bottle of quick ready-to-go coffee. Athletes used that drink to get a short burst of energy to continue weightlifting or other activities, but the Loud boy was happy enough with the weights around his legs.

"Let's say caffeine's my addiction for a time like this. Lincada's back in town. She was sort of raised by Maddison's children… I wish I could say otherwise, but coincidences don't happen as often as we think," Lincoln retorted. This quick coffee was somewhat addictive to him. His office desk was full of the stuff, similar to how Nora had it full of whiskey.

"Come on. We'll take my car," David pointed a thumb over to a small van that he had acquired recently.

"If it'll get us there sooner," Lincoln tossed the empty coffee bottle aside, hearing it plunk harmlessly into the trash can as he then climbed into the passenger seat of the van. He wished he could get Danny and Jackson to come with them as backup, but the two were off on their own antics like they always did.

"Make sure your seatbelt is on, boss," the chain smoker lightly joked.

"Way ahead of you," Lincoln did just that, and the van began to pull out of the parking lot before driving off. The teenager hoped he was able to drive as good with one arm as he would be able to with two.

"How'd she seem when she first found out?" Lincoln asked while sitting in the passenger seat. He opened the glove compartment just out of curiosity. It was full of packs of cigarettes. Somehow he expected that. He just closed the glove box back.

"Maddie was really mad… mad, as in POed. I don't get her logic. She's happy when near death, finds pain fun and rarely thinks before doing anything… but she never has been straight up angry like that," David explained. It sounded far out of Maddison's character to get mad at all. She laughed when she was impaled on rebar, but not when her own offspring had gone from life.

"We've got a long drive," Lincoln hoped he would be able to at least make it to Luna's concert to help her with preparing everything, but duty called. having to keep over a hundred people happy and in line every day was not an easy job, and that number increased each day.

"Luna!"

Luan, Lynn and Lana came to Luna, who was tuning her guitar while several assistants were setting up the stage. A pleasant surprise to her in this fine weather.

"Hey, guys! What're you doing here? Concert isn't for another five hours," Luna asked while resting her guitar aside, hugging her three sisters. She guessed they all had gotten days off of work as well.

"We came to help you out. We didn't have much going on today anyway," Lynn answered, the three having come to opt into helping their rocking sibling prepare things. Since they were the better hands on family members, they figured they could be a lot of help setting up the stage.

"Yup! We aren't here to 'upstage' you," Luan gave a groan-worthy pun, Lana resting her toolbox down.

"Everyone is pretty busy today, so why not help out?" Lana claimed. Everyone was going to do what they wanted today, so they decided to get to work. Luna was glad to have a family who willingly supported each other very often. She just hoped everyone else was okay, too.

"How did I get stuck babysitting?" Ronnie Anne sighed while holding Lobby in one arm, whilst Lily walked beside her, holding her other hand. Everyone in the Loud family had an important deal going on, and unfortunately the Santiago girl was the last one to wake up when the Loud parents requested help.

"Lincoln?" Lily spoke, wondering if they were going to see her only brother. Sadly, the Loud family's mother was not allowed to bring either infant to her work, according to her bosses who finally caught her and her co-workers with them. Everyone else was busy or going places that disallowed children.

"We'll stop by to see him later, Lily… I figured that for now I'd take you two to the park. That sound good?" Ronnie Anne responded.

"Okay! The youngest Loud nodded. It sounded fun with how bright today was.

"Bobby's off helping our cousin out of trouble… again. Lori had to go get her driver's license renewed," Ronnie Anne had to keep telling herself why the parents of her niece were absent today. Thankfully, Lobby tended to be very content in the arms of the second-in-command, seeming fond of her aunt.

"Hm? Is that…?" Ronnie Anne stopped outside of a small family pizzeria. She saw two familiar workers for their mafia group in there. She decided to check it out, stepping inside with her niece and Lily.

"Ah welcome to…! Oh, Ronnie Anne! What brings you here?" Danny greeted her when she walked through the door, the little bell jingling but in need of replacement.

"Hey, second boss," Jackson chimed up from the window behind the counter that was used to give orders to the kitchen.

"Nice to see you two, too. I was just going to the park when I noticed you two in here… I don't recall our group having any pizzerias for turf," the Santiago girl responded, thinking she would have to ask her fiancé why they bothered giving a pizzeria any form of time or care.

"Oh… uh… erm… Well, we were going to our assigned job today, but the guy who hired us had to close and go off the grid because of the cops getting onto him," Jackson started.

"We were going back to the headquarters, but this car hit an old guy, so we took him to the hospital…" Danny added, "He was worried about how he would make rent, since he was the only worker of this place, so we offered to help. Basically, it was free labor. The poor old guy couldn't afford to miss a single day of work."

"They nice?" Lily asked her babysitter.

"Yes, Lily, they're good… Just really dumb," Ronnie Anne laughed, before hearing Lobby begin crying. The dark haired girl sighed, guessing she was hungry again.

"We might as well have lunch while we're here," she shrugged. She had a bag over her shoulder full of items for the baby.

"You aren't mad at us, are ya boss?" Danny requested hesitantly while watching the small group take their seats at a table.

"Why would I be mad? I'm annoyed that you refuse to check in with anyone when you do something. We have three leaders for a reason, y'know. But it's nice that you're helping someone in need," Ronnie Anne replied while getting a premade bottle of formula out of the bag. Lily looked happy to have pizza for lunch.

"Yes, boss, we're sorry… We'll get you the best of our best for ya," Jackson thanked her for being kind, and the two goofs went to prepare the pizza. It would not be long before other customers inevitably arrived.

"Why did I have to help out with recruiting process?" Lucy was annoyed. She, Lola and Leni were looking for people in need of aid to get back on their feet for working the debt off.

"Because you actually look intimidating, and I look beautiful. Between us they won't be able to get a read or figure us out before we talk," Lola replied with her logic. The gothic sibling guessed that made sense.

"I still wish I knew where Nora went," Leni said. She was just glad that they made sure people only worked off their debt and nothing more. No inflation, price increases or anything like that. They still made plenty of money from it, even if it was not as grand an amount as before, and their reputation around town was getting better day by day.

"Look, these three look like bums," Lola noticed three men who were coming to them by the front, "Maybe they need a hand."

"Okay!" Leni chimed up and went to the three men, "Hi! Do you need he-mfff!"

A rag was shoved over Leni's mouth and nose beginning to force her to pass out.

"W-what the he-?!" Lucy was grabbed by two more people who got the upper hand from behind her and did the same to her.

"Eek! I-I have to call Lincoln!" Lola, after seeing what the five unknown people had done, tried to hit the speed dial on her phone, when she was punched and grabbed. The last thing she saw was an ether soaked rag forced over her face, knocking her unconscious in seconds.

"That's three down… a lot more to go. Lincada will be pleased."


	73. Planned Assault

**Authors Note: So let me just say, sorry this chapter is late. This has been rewritten several times today, because I never was satisfied with it. I hope you enjoy this.**

Lincoln and David arrived to the graveyard. When they parked the van, they both climbed out. The teenage boss looked around, feeling uneasy already. He had been haunted by the grim reaper so much over these last few years that now this felt more annoying than anything.

"I'm guessing that she'll hit one of us with a bat by the time we talk to her… I know what she wanted to do to them in the first place," Lincoln predicted. He remembered Maddison's intention to remove her children from this world for whatever reason. They doubted the Mad Batter would be hard to miss. David hoped their boss could talk her out of this act of defiling the dead, whether they were her own children or not.

"Just protect the back of your head and you'll be fine. I learnt that after our fifth date," David informed him. Lincoln felt horrible for whatever this man was able to endure. The mafia leader thought his relationship with Ronnie Anne was too abusive at times, but every time he saw Maddison and David together, he thought otherwise.

They were correct when they presumed it would not take long to find the Mad Batter. There was a huge pile of dirt with one coffin beside it near the back of the cemetery, where they could see the familiar red hair and frog-hooded jacket. Maddison was busy pulling something from the hole.

"Maddison! Stop!" David called out while they rushed to the crazed batter, right as she finished getting the second coffin out of the ground, resting it beside the other one.

"David… Boss… What do you want?" Maddison panted while trying to regain her breath, sweating and covered with dirt. Lincoln could tell that they were far too late to stop her from taking out the two coffins.

"We wanted to make sure you were alright," Lincoln claimed. As the boss, he had to make sure everyone working for him was alright. If he ignored every problem that workers had, they would inevitably be worthless or not performing as well as the mafia needed.

"…and to stop you from doing this. They're dead, Maddison. They're dead, and there's nothing we can do about it. I know your husband and manager made a mistake a long time ago that made you go crazy, but this is going overboard," David added. They would help fix things back if they had to.

"Davey, you think your smoke-riddled lungs, your single scrawny arm, and our tiny boss, are really going to be able to stop me? Really?!" Maddison sneered. There was no joy in her face or her voice, she had not had an energy pop all day apparently.

"Boss, come on. You're good at talking. Back me up here," David requested.

"I just came to ask if she was sure this would help her…" Lincoln told David in reply. He wanted to know if confirming these as her dead children would make her feel any better or worse. Lincoln then turned to Maddison, "I wanted to apologize for not letting you know, Maddison… I sort of half-knew what happened a month ago."

"Oh, come on boss…" David sighed, rubbing his head.

"Sorry, David," Lincoln shook his head, "But if we make her stop now, she'll either knock us out or just sneak by our view to get what she wants."

"What did you mean that you somewhat knew?" Maddison requested. The Loud boy had never seen her act serious before. It scared him with how piercing her eyes were.

"It has to do with Lincada. She was raised by them, you see. Your son got addicted to drugs Lazzerson provided him, and he ended up killing his sister when she tried to stop him… but that's all she told me. I didn't know he had hung himself in prison. I thought it was better if you didn't dwell in the past," Lincoln elaborated. He was not proud for keeping things secret, but he refused to recall his twin sister anymore if he could help it.

"…Do you know why I wanted to kill them myself?" she asked rhetorically. Of course they would not know, so she explained anyway.

"They weren't going to make it to forty, because of a genetic disorder… No one knew how long they would last. I spent every day of my life thinking, holding out hope that they'd live happily for long. My husband betrayed us to do the do with my manager. Two once good people turned traitors. One used to support me through thick and thin, while the other scheduled all my commercial appearances and managed my time. Two most important people in my life had gone behind my back!" Maddison rummaged through her bat-filled bag, until she pulled out one that was cracked and wooden, the same one she used to kill her husband and manager.

"They hated my children… and I hated those two… You can see why I put a skull-shattering end to those two snakes…! Then I realized when I was standing over their beaten and bloodied bodies, that I can save my children from a short, agonizing existence in this nightmare we call life… but I screwed up… I never got the chance."

"…wow…" Lincoln guessed that police had been able to get the children to safety since they had been out of the country during the murder of their father, "I understand saving others from pain… especially the ones you love… but imagine what it was like to them. They were giving their all to survive for their parents to make each day more tolerable, only to see the two meant to guide them in life turn on each other."

Maddison paused for a moment, after Lincoln tried to reason with her that there was a lot more sides to this than just the two that she initially thought. "You two look away… I'm going to at least break their bones to pieces…"

"…can't protest that," Lincoln sighed. He and David respected her plight. They turned away, knowing that for the next few minutes, they would hear nothing but the sounds of screaming and bat swinging. Lincoln just hoped that everyone else was having a better day today.

"You made a mistake trying to attack me the day I had my niece!" Ronnie Anne roared. Six random men had strolled into the pizzeria to attack them. The Santiago girl made Lily hide with Lobby in the bathroom, while she, Danny and Jackson put up fists. Ronnie Anne grabbed one of the men by the waist and suplexed him through one of the tables, hearing the man's scream of pain.

"Mfph!" She felt a rag get forced over her mouth and nose. Another one of the many men had snuck up on her. Jackson shoved him off of her and kicked him in the stomach, saving her from being knocked out.

"Boss, just get outta here! These guys aren't here to kill! They're trying to take ya!" Danny had realized just what the men were here for. Ronnie Anne was gasping for breath, seeing the two fellow workers taking on the four opposing men, and a few more outside trying to break down the locked door.

"Get the kids out of here! We owe ya for saving our lives, so let us fight for ya!" Jackson added, before he received a hit in the face. The dedicated ruby worker pulled out a pair of brass knuckles, beginning to go on a counter rampage.

"Thanks, you two… You'd better not die on us!" Ronnie Anne thanked them. She ran for the back, and she entered the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She found Lily hiding in the corner with her niece in her arms. The terrified Lily was trying to stay brave, while Lobby was crying loudly in her arms.

"It… it safe?" Lily whimpered. Her Santiago babysitter, who now had a lot of bruises on her face, came over and took Lobby in her arms.

"Everything'll be alright, but we need to get to the headquarters for now. Come on, this'll be your first Dine and Dash," Ronnie Anne tried to jokingly reassure, but Lily could tell that things were far from alright.

"Be careful," Ronnie Anne warned while helping Lily climb down through the bathroom window, which let them back on the street outside. Once they all were out of the pizzeria, they swore the door being broken could be heard ringing out, Ronnie Anne picked up the blonde infant, and she began to run away as fast as she could with both youngsters in her arms.

"It'll be okay… it'll be okay…" she kept telling them, while she still knew she was the target the men were looking for, and possibly Lily and Lobby as well. She had a bad feeling that those men were trying to mess with Lincoln and everyone he loved.

"Ouuugh…" Lori sat back in Vanzilla, disorientated, hearing the sound of a car alarm going off. She looked to the van's mirror to see some cuts on her face and a messed up eye, her head partially bleeding. She then began to climb out of the van. There had been a car accident where a small truck had crashed into the side of her.

"Are you okay?" Lori called out. No one had exited the truck yet. She could barely remember the crash happening either, but whatever the reason for this crash, she hoped the person was not hurt. She went to the truck's driver's side, opening the door with some force.

"Ahhh!" A strong spray of mace went directly to her face, making her eyes burn. She tried to throw a punch at whoever attacked her, but wound up just hitting part of the truck itself and hurting her hand.

"Nice try, missy… Don't worry though, your boyfriend's safe and sound… I'll take you to him right now," the man who sprayed her put a rag over her mouth and nose, having been able to sneak up on her with ease since she was blinded by the mace. He had caused the car wreck on purpose to lower her guard down.

"You're gonna regret crashing my concert!" Luna whacked an opponent away with a microphone stand, making him fall off the stage. The assistants who were once helping set things up were either unconscious or being outnumbered by dozens of men and women who ambushed them straight out of nowhere.

"I guess I'm a goon zapper!" Luan laughed. Anyone who got near her, she would hit them with a pair of joy buzzers. They were a lot more effective when used against the enemy's face, that they were a particularly stronger brand of gag tool.

"Get off me!" Lynn shoved down three people, and gave each one a strong kick to the face to knock them out. Lana laid behind her, knocked out cold, the first of the sisters they had attacked at this concert, and they were now targeting the other three sisters.

"Wow… I guess I came to the right show," Lincada watched from the top of the stands, munching on popcorn like it was a theater play. She had hoped there would be more of the Loud family here, but she was expecting the rest of her cronies to be working hard at capturing everyone. It would only be a matter of time before she outnumbered and captured every member in and near the Loud family, no matter how much they fought back.

"Revenge is going to be fun, bro… reaaaaally fun!"


	74. A Living Nightmare

Lincoln was back at the mafia headquarters and sitting in his office chair, Maddison sitting across from him and David standing nearby.

"So do you feel any better now?" the mafia leader asked Maddison. She nodded while putting an energy pop into her mouth.

"Crunching bones isn't as good as the real deal… but I guess I did what I wanted to do… Thanks for not stopping me," the Mad Batter thanked their boss as she tilted her head back, swallowing the energy pop whole, and then pulling out another one and popping it into her mouth.

"She'll be back to her old self in a while, don't worry… I like the real Maddie a lot more than the mentally depressed Maddie," David said while putting an arm around her. With one of her primary goals achieved in her life, he hoped things would be a lot better with the event off to the side in her mind.

"Heh… yeah… Wish I could've met that Lincada girl to at least know what Michael and Mary were like before things went down the gutter…" Maddison rested her head on the desk tiredly, looking in need of a month of sleep.

"Sadly, we might see her again soon… If that one bismuth was sent here by her, then there's gotta be more after him, and I have no clue how many guys she has under her thumb. She's been doing whatever she wants in Lansing for the longest time now," Lincoln rambled, trying not to allow stress to overwhelm him as he thought it would not be any trouble.

"I'm going to check up on Clyde and Lisa. You hang out in here as long as you want," Lincoln insisted, and he left his office and went straight downstairs. When he did, however, he noticed Doctor Jeffrey rushing by.

"Jeffrey? What's happening?" Lincoln followed to the medical bay. This doctor's hasty pass by him meant that an emergency was occurring.

"That's what's happening," he let the boss see for himself. Estrella lay on one of the beds, having burn marks all over her body. Lance was nearby, but he looked a lot better in terms of his burns.

"What happened?!" Lincoln approached, wondering if the new ruby animal member had betrayed them with his loyalty to bismuth. The gold-teethed man held his head, as if recalling a dreadful nightmare.

"Someone chucked molotovs through the windows at the shop… Estrella was covered in that grease from working, and she caught on fire. I put her out and got us out of there through the junkyard, but…" Lance was unable to finish the sentence. Lincoln knew the Chop Shop was gone now because of arson, and it was safe to presume who done it.

"I can't believe this… Thanks for saving her, Lance… That was a big asset of ours, though," the teenager sighed. A lot of money came from the Chop Shop, and now it was nothing but ashes. They would survive, but they would definitely feel the blow.

"Alright, you two get out. I need the room clear for this procedure," Jeffrey ordered, about to begin cleaning Estrella of the dead flesh from her burn wounds. The two understood, leaving the medical bay so the doctor could begin, the door closing behind them.

"Poor Estrella… she was so devoted to that Chop Shop, too… still, thanks for saving her life, Lance. I'm glad to see you're at least dedicated to fixing your mistake," Lincoln stated. This was a pretty good start for the man in debt to them helping out. Saving a co-worker's life from a fire was an honorable thing.

"I had to do you both a favor. Most people wouldn't give pathetic guys like me five minutes of their time… but amazingly, you showed mercy right off the bat. Every other gangster tells me groups as big as yours kill anyone that crosses them," Lance replied, watching the boss brush himself off and fix his white hair a little. Lincoln wished he could have gotten dressed professionally this morning, but those were emergencies he had to tend to.

"That's the thing. We're not a gang… we're a mob. Only someone afraid of the person they beat in a fight would try to kill them… for us, bravery is letting the person you defeat escape, leaving you with the fear of whether they'll return or not," Lincoln responded, "Besides… it's a lot better for us to save lives, rather than dispose of them."

"Wow… that's a lot of wisdom you have," Lance muttered, impressed with how moral Lincoln was. Just seconds after that talk though, they heard a loud, wailing voice.

"Huh? That's Lobby…" Lincoln muttered. Those infant wails matched his niece too well. The two went off to follow the cries coming from the entrance. There they saw Ronnie Anne leaned against Clyde, panting while looking completely drained. Lisa was holding Lobby while Lily was beside her.

"Lincoln!" Lisa called to him, "I'm afraid this is another terrible emergency…!"

Lincoln went straight over and hugged Ronnie Anne, trying to help her stay on her feet. "What happened, Ronnie Anne?"

"I got attacked when I was checking up on Danny and Jackson… Some guys tried to kidnap me," Ronnie Anne panted. She had run all the way here with the infants in her arms. Lobby was beginning to calm down now.

"What?! Why didn't you call me?!" Lincoln was unable to believe it, "I could've had half our group out trying to help!"

"I tried to call you, Lame-o, but you didn't answer!" Ronnie Anne angrily gave him a light punch to the chest. Her fiancé felt his pockets, realizing that he had left his home without his cellphone. That rush to help Estrella and David this morning caught his attention so much that he forgot a lot of his items, even his own wallet, at home.

"Why were they trying to kidnap you? Did you break someone's leg again?" Clyde asked. The black haired girl shook her head.

"They're with Lincada! They didn't just want to take me, either…" Ronnie Anne replied, not announcing it aloud to make sure Lily could be calm, but the two best friends understood what she meant. Lobby and Lily were other targets on the kidnapper's lists.

"Lincada…?" Lincoln froze just at the name of her, "A-are the others safe?"

"I don't know… I couldn't get ahold of anybody… I was scared that I was alone, and… I was afraid I'd only come to find you gone, too," Ronnie Anne could only whimper as she leaned onto her love.

"Sorry, Ronnie Anne… I was in the cellar nearly all of today helping Nirtama… Guess it cut my phone signal," Clyde apologized for not receiving the call, as Lincoln rubbed her back while he held Ronnie Anne close. Lisa knew they were not in a good place right now.

"Lance, can you help Lisa watch my niece and baby sister, please?" Lincoln requested from the newest member in their mafia.

"If it's your family…" Lance nodded, seeing it as no big deal.

"We'll make sure the two are in safe condition," Lisa insisted, as she and Lance left with the two babies to her lab.

"Come on, let's get to my office," the teenage boss insisted. They needed to try and get in contact with his other sisters, thinking it would be best to get everyone gathered up at the base for now. He helped his fiancée along since she was still immensely tired.

Lincoln made one phone call after another over the last two hours, trying to reach anybody, and none of his sisters would answer. He never forgot that Luna had her concert, but he had no clue what everyone else was up to that prevented them from answering their cellphones. "What is going on…? I can't get ahold of anybody."

"Same here, man. I can't get your parents, either," Clyde added.

"Bobby still won't answer," Ronnie Anne sighed, pocketing her phone. She doubted it would have taken this long to help their cousin get his car free from the trench. Their cousin had a horrible track record when it came to driving. Rarely did they get into accidents, yet they somehow always got their vehicle stuck.

"I sent David to my house to see if everything's okay," Lincoln stated. Right now, it was just a waiting game for him to hear from the chain smoker. Maddison was somewhere in the base, either unconscious or abusing a co-worker out of boredom. The mafia leader however then heard the phone on his desk ringing, and answered it. "Hello?"

"Boss!" the panicked voice rung out, "This is Luigi, the police chief of RWPD! There's been a horrible travesty!"

"Luigi? What happened?" Lincoln only met Luigi once to bail a few of his workers out of jail. The police chief was pretty nice, all things considered, having gone through dozens of rival mafia members.

"The station got attacked! I-I can't find a single officer! I arrived late and just… It's a bloodbath! Everyone's dead, and all the files and evidence that were stored here have gone missing or were lost in the fire… I'm sorry, boss. We lost a lot of good men," the police chief explained. Lincoln went wide eyed from hearing this. One of the first things he did while in charge was make connections between them and the police forces stronger.

"Wha…? How can an entire police station get raided?! And how can everyone inside it be killed?!" Lincoln demanded, finding it insane that armed professionally trained police officers could be wiped out like this.

"I don't know, boss! I've called the other police stations in town to come help autopsy everyone, but… from the mess I saw in there, they were hacked to pieces!" Luigi said. Lincoln could only rub his head.

"This can't be happening…! Thanks for your efforts, Luigi. We'll try to look into this," Lincoln hung up.

"We're in a lot more trouble, aren't we?" Clyde asked.

"You've said it…" Lincoln nodded, as did Ronnie Anne. The police force liked the ruby mafia a lot. They did not actively try to break the law. The help they gave to Lazzerson's former workers also made great impressions.

"Lincada certainly came back with a bang…" Ronnie Anne stated, "That or a terrorist group targeted the RWPD."

"There isn't much of a difference, is there?" Lincoln scoffed. He suddenly heard the sound of his cellphone ringing again, and he pulled it out to answer it. That had to be David calling, and on the phone's screen, it was.

"Please have some good news for me, David," Lincoln begged. He could hear the sound of a lighter flickering on.

"Sorry, Lincoln, but… your place is trashed," David grunted, "The front door's not even on the hinges. The only thing I could find was a phone number written on the wall, but no one answered."

Lincoln exhaled in his ever-growing stress. He half-anticipated this to happen when the day turned to a day of dread. "What's the phone number? I'll get ahold of them."

"Gotcha. It's…" David slowly said each digit that compounded into what Lincoln had to dial. It was engraved into his mind with relative ease.

"Thanks, David. Get back to base now. I'm recalling anyone out back to the base as well. There's a big issue going on," Lincoln hung up afterward.

"I'm gonna check up on Lobby and Lily. You just take it easy, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne volunteered, aware that it would make her fiancé relax to know his niece and sister were alright after such a traumatic incident.

"I'll go start calling everyone to regroup at the base," Clyde said, aware not to waste any time. They were going to go into lockdown mode once everyone was back.

"Thanks, you two…" Lincoln said while beginning to dial the phone number. He knew that whoever this number belonged to was going to answer to only his call.

"Hello, brother," the voice was clear enough to strike a nerve in Lincoln's head.

"Hello, Lincada… I told you not to call me that anymore."

"Really now? I'm frankly saddened to hear that… I told you that I'd make you regret what you did, bro… and I'm keeping my word. In the end, it'll be me left alone to rule Royal Woods from the shadows," Lincada stated with a devious giggle, "And that regret is going to be full of nothing but remorse, when our birth parents have to watch every last one of their children be slowly slaughtered before their eyes… once I've gathered them all, of course."

"What…?" Lincoln gasped. Lincada swore she could hear something mentally snap in his head.

"Yes, dear brother… it wouldn't be right to only slaughter eight of them and make them wait to see the last two get rounded up to be murdered later… I'm sure my men will get the last few soon… but you see, the real fun is having them all there watching each person they loved and cared for, be violated… physically… mentally… and spiritually. I'm going to make their last moments in this world hell."

"But why them of all people? They're innocent! …You're mad with me, right? I don't have much of a future! How about you take me, instead?! Just let them go and I'll give myself to you… You can torture me all you want, and then heal me when I'm on the brink of death… That's what you want, right? To see me in pain? I don't care if I have to be in a shackles in a basement for the rest of my life, please." Lincoln pleaded. He was glad his fiancée was not here to watch him look this upset or say any of these things.

"Ehhhh… one for all these? It's like a collecting game, but to make sure it's even more fun, I went and got Bobby, too. I just need to round up our two littlest sisters, that niece and your girlfriend to complete the collection. As for what I'll do to toy with them all… I think I'll start by pulling their fingernails off with pliers, one by one… then using a sand belter to grind their fingers down to stumps."

"You…! You're mad…!" Lincoln growled. She had just described in gruesome detail, what she would do once she gathered everyone Lincoln loved and cared for, to make both them, and him suffer before she killed him last, "I'll come for you… And when I get there, I'll make sure you regret touching any of them…!"

"Don't get worked up yet. I'm going to be sending about… one hundred people to your headquarters? I'll make sure you get a nice set of tight chain bindings beside mom and dad to watch the torture, too," Lincada laughed, "But if you really do somehow get the chance, I'm in that last building of Lazzerson's. I'll see you soon… And don't worry, the only injuries they've gotten so far are from resisting capturing."

Lincada hung up. Lincoln stood there, his phone gripped his hand. With a primal yell, he kicked his desk over, sending the contents on it flying to the ground and breaking, scattering all over the room.

"One thing you forgot… I always make a plan! I'm coming for you, 'sis'!"


	75. Captured

The base had gone into lockdown mode by the time the workers had all arrived. Lincoln informed everybody about all of the happenings, and about the impending platoon of troops coming to try and kidnap him, his fiancée and the few of his family that were not captured yet.

"I think we're all pretty screwed right now…" Lincoln heard his fiancée speak while he looked through the lab's long extension of items, inventions and gadgets. Lisa herself however was absent.

"When aren't we in that kind of position, Ronnie Anne?" he jokingly replied, seeing her toss aside some junk.

"You're right about that, Lame-o… Are you sure this is the best plan we have?" Ronnie Anne asked him, having found one of the things they had been looking for; a small tracking chip meant to be placed inside of someone's pockets or luggage to allow them to be tracked.

"No, Ronnie Anne. This isn't the best plan we have… but it's probably the only fast one. Lincada got rich when she took advantage of Jayzo's businesses in Lansing," Lincoln explained while taking the tracking chip, planning on letting Maddison take the tracking remote itself, "She must have a lot of people under her control. If we beat the hundred they're sending, they'll just send two hundred the next time."

"And if we beat the next two hundred, they'll send three hundred… Lincada really is one cold-hearted dictator," Ronnie Anne sighed, watching her fiancé put the tracking chip in his mouth and swallowing. Down it went to his stomach, the safest place he knew for it at the moment where no one would be able to find it.

"All the workers have been evacuated from the building, and Estrella has been taken to the hospital by Jeffrey," Maddison chimed up, looking eager but disappointed to know they would not fight against this small army coming their way.

"And by now, Clyde is hopefully going to be on the first bus that will take him to a neighboring city until we give him the green light that things are safe," Lincoln sighed. With few choices and for the sake of safety, he had sent Lily, Lisa and Lobby off with Clyde to get out of town until something changed, whether it be for good or bad.

"There they are," Lincoln grinned when he found some small gadgets. He then noticed Lance enter the lab, being one of the few workers left behind.

"Sorry, Lincoln. Am I late?"

"Nope, I think you're just in time, Lance! Here you go," Lincoln handed over a strange circular object and a remote control to him, "Remember, we're counting on you… a lot,"

"Why do you want me to do this again? I'm pretty sure we've got plenty others you trust who are better for this," Lance responded nervously. Ronnie Anne had to agree there, but sadly time was not their best friend right now.

"Because you at least seem very determined to right your wrongs… and you're the only person we have working with us that has bismuth engraved into their teeth," Lincoln replied while taking the ruby bull ring off the gold-toothed man's hand, letting him pocket it.

"Wait a minute… Lincoln, you didn't tell me this was part of the plan!" Ronnie Anne growled. Her fiancé had gone over the quickest of plans, so he might have left a few details out until now. Maddison was looking over all the many things Lisa had created, with her metal bat in hand.

"What better way is there to get inside, than by being taken there as a prisoner? I know Lincada. She always has a backup method to get what she wants. Lance here has the very thing that is going to make sure that her backup plans can't go through," Lincoln explained. That small sphere Lance had was an EMP his sister made, in case she ever need alternative means to shut down an invention. The teenage boy knew if it was Lazzerson's last building, then it most likely had a bomb hidden in the foundation by Lincada as a backup plan for in case she lost.

"You really trust me with this?" Lance retorted, "I'm that random moron who broke into a shop and broke thousands of dollars worth of stuff."

"Heheh… you're talking to that random idiot who took a loan from the mafia when he was twelve years old and became their leader nearly two years later… trust me. Everyone here is crazy. That's what our advantage is," Lincoln laughed. Maddison gave a thumbs up from the side to reaffirm that statement, "That and unlike my former twin, I'll make sure your gambling debt is gone. I'll keep my word, whatever may happen."

Just as Lincoln finished speaking though, he could hear the sound of cars outside. He gave the tracking device controller over to Maddison.

"That's prolly them! I'll go make sure everyone's up and ready. Remember boss, you've got about two hours. Don't even try to get sidetracked," Maddison informed him while stealing several gizmos from the lab and beginning to leave. They could hear the door and windows being beaten on from the main entrance. The lockdown was mainly just a temporary distraction in case they needed more time to evacuate.

"Here's the handcuffs… you know, Ronnie Anne, there's still time to get out of here," Lincoln offered his fiancée the chance to escape with Maddison. They were the only three left in the building. Ronnie Anne took one of the sets of handcuffs. They had been somewhat cut through to be a lot weaker in the center.

"It's not happening, Lame-o. My brother and niece are having their lives threatened. I'm going to make sure that witch gets a lot more in return for that," Ronnie Anne angrily replied, Lance helping them both slip the handcuffs on, "And don't forget to rough our faces up a little."

The doors at the main entrance creaked and bended with each hit until it broke in half, collapsing into the floor and sending wood splinters everywhere. The gate outside was broken down with multiple vans lined up out there.

"Get moving go!" one person shouted as they began to all flood into the mafia headquarters almost instantly. Every room was trashed in a hunt for anyone within the building.

"They bailed guys, but they forgot a few people!" Lance chimed, leading a bruised and beaten young couple with their hands bound by the handcuffs.

"What?! Were these two the only ones here?!" one other bismuth worker asked. Just as everyone in the ruby building learned, they identified each other via their tattooed teeth instead of rings. It made Lincoln feel happy that his group just used flesh-binding rings. It was a lot less painful compared to that.

"I dunno, man, but I snuck in, though I pretended to be one of them with this ring I stole," Lance chuckled, showing his ruby animal ring the other bismuth group members.

"Well… good work, gold maw… Take them to Lincada with one of the vans. We'll try and find the others," the fellow bismuth member ordered. Lance forced them along with a confident grin and stride.

"You can at least be gentler," Lincoln murmured before being kicked in the back. Lance had no choice in that since a few of the other bismuth goons were watching them leave. They could not risk blowing it now.

"I think I'm gonna have a heart attack," Ronnie Anne felt the stress and tension getting to her as well. She had withstood it all relatively fine, but she wondered how Lincoln had survived this long without letting it get to him.

"Alright, get in!" Lance tossed them both in the back of the van.

"Well… he's a good actor…" Lincoln coughed as the back doors closed. After a few moments, they felt the van begin moving as it started driving off away from their headquarters.

"Relax while you can," Ronnie Anne huffed, leaning into her fiancé. He smiled gladly, letting her do so, since the two were going to be in for a slightly longer than normal ride, "So what do you plan to do when we get inside?"

"I'm planning to find Lincada… I won't waste much time talking to her, either… nor am I gonna let her play games on my mind any longer. At the meantime, you go find and save everyone," Lincoln knew the only real route anymore was the route of violence. He hated knowing she had recruited all these poor desperate people from Lansing.

After thirty minutes of travel, they could see a more rundown and wrecked area out the back of the van's window. An ominous two-floor building was up ahead, the paint chipped and rundown several bricks of the many fallen out.

"Seriously? Lazzerson never took care of anything," Ronnie Anne claimed. This building looked like it had never had a day of maintenance.

"Drugs and laziness tend to mix well," the mafia leader shrugged, the van beginning to wheel to a stop. After a few brief moments, they saw the doors open up to reveal a few workers there with Lance.

"I'll take them in," Lance insisted, but they denied him.

"Lincada wants to speak with her brother privately… Take him to her while we take the girl to the other prisoners," the worker ordered in retort.

"Fine by me…" Lance nodded, forcing Lincoln out of the van as they began to approach the building.

"Good thing I have that tracking chip in me…" Lincoln murmured, glad that with this device, Maddison would be able to track him. That was just one part of the plan, but half of it was not up to him. He had to rely on others for that. Lincoln hoped that his month of leadership had gained him enough respect to be seen as worthy to be saved.

"I'll make sure everyone is fine...You won't get away with this Lincada."


	76. See Through

**Authors Note: I wanted to just say, this story is a few chapters from being done. Not counting the epilogue anyway, I want to say thank you all again for the support. I hope you like me being in this community of fanfiction writers, and I hope you did not mind the near 3 months of daily updates. Enjoy the chapter.**

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne had been separated when they were taken into the building. The Santiago girl was not allowed to walk for some reason. The bismuth guards she got left with found it better to carry her by her arms, not caring about any discomfort it brought to her as they carried her all the way to one side of the building. She was glad that they had not seen the minor cuts in her handcuffs chains to make them easy to break out of. The problem was now waiting for the right moment to arise.

"Where am I being taken?"

"Same place as most of the prisoners," the guards answered while they entered a back storage room, where there was nothing more but the high up windows covered by dark sheets, and a sturdy makeshift cage off in the back.

"Ronnie Anne?!" Bobby called out to his dragged in sister. Ronnie Anne spotted every Loud sibling, and her older brother in the cage, but she saw no sign of Lincoln's parents.

"Oof!" she was tossed into the large, makeshift prison cell, the door closing behind her. The chain had an electronic lock put back onto it that only Bismuth member knew the code to. Lynn, Lori and Luna had already tried the aggressive means of escaping, but they only received vicious shocks from tazer guns in retort.

"Ronnie Anne! Are you okay?!" Bobby picked her up and hugged her tight. She groaned a little, glad not to see bindings on them at least.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just ran out of energy…" Ronnie Anne broke the embrace. Lori stepped up beside her brother, both looking upset.

"Where's Lobby?" Lori hesitantly forced the words out of her throat, Bobby unable to speak it himself. They were immensely worried for their baby daughter's well being, Ronnie Anne being the one that had been babysitting her today as well.

"What about Lily, Lisa and Lincoln?" Leni gasped, realizing that if their brother's girlfriend was captured, that was a bad sign for the rest of their family.

"Calm down! Clyde has Lobby, Lily and Lisa safe in his hands. They're going off to Warren, where none of those bismuth scum'll find them," Ronnie Anne reassured. Sadly, it was not much comfort to them.

"Thank you, Ronnie Anne… Lincada took mom and dad somewhere an hour ago," Lori sniffled, trying not to cry. Imagining never being able to see her daughter or family members again was terrifying her to the core. Bobby kept his girlfriend close to him, doing his best to comfort her.

"Calm down. Lincoln and I'll get us all out… This is his plan, after all," Ronnie Anne informed them, everyone looking to her in confusion. She was glad there were no security guards in the room, as she broke her handcuffs. "Just listen to what ya gotta do…"

One room waited in the far back upstairs, and Lance was leading his ruby boss there. Half of the bismuth crew were out at the moment, most likely hunting down the rest of the Louds. Anyone who was not doing that task was near the front of the building, acting as guards.

"Welcome bro," they heard as soon as they entered past the double doors. Lincada sat across the room. On both sides of her were their parents, tied up and gagged, terrified and upset.

"Mom! Dad!" Lincoln was terrified, not able to control himself, "You better not have done anything to them, Lincada!"

"Don't worry, bro. I only smacked them around a little… with a fly swatter," Lincada giggled while patting their mother's head. She then turned to approach Lance.

"Good work, Lance. I'm glad that at least one of my loyal idiots lived up to make it to the top," the bismuth mafia leader laughed as she came up to him, ignoring any verbal assault that could come from her brother's mouth.

"It was nothing, boss," Lance replied, caught between two people with equal leadership of him. He watched her rummage around in her pocket before pulling out a wad of bills.

"I told you I'd help with your debt, so here you go," Lincada handed him a single one dollar bill.

"What? Is this a joke?" Lance raised an eyebrow when he took it. This was a horrible joke in bad taste. His gambling debt was twenty-thousand dollars, a very high figure, but sadly a normal debt for most gambling addicts.

"A single dollar? Am I really only worth that much?" Lincoln added.

"You're worth a Canadian penny at most, bro. I promised him I'd help pay off his debt if he helped us and I held my end of the bargain," Lincada smirked and grabbed her brother. Lincoln wondered where she was taking him. He looked back to his parents who remained bound here, and Lance who stared at the dollar bill in shock, unable to believe what he had been working to earn.

"It'll be fine, don't worry!" Lincoln told his parents while being shoved along, willing to break the semi-cut chains at the right moment. He felt his female twin put an arm around his shoulder.

"Soooo…" the bismuth leader giggled, "You really thought I'd fall for those injuries?"

"Wh… what?" he nervously replied, feeling her poke his cheek.

"Come on… your nose and eyes were the only two things avoided from all the hits. Unless you begged Lance not to obscure your vision, I don't see why he aimed for mostly your cheek and forehead," Lincada laughed. Not having a black eye on at least one eye from what should have been a vicious brawl against Lance was a dead giveaway, she was onto him.

"…guess I have no choice!" Lincoln broke the chains on his handcuffs just with one strong sudden separation of his arms. He tried to turn around to attack Lincada, but he only was met with a syringe to his neck that instantly sent a numbing feeling throughout his entire body. He collapsed to the ground, unable to move but still awake.

"One moron down. Only three left to go," Lincada hummed while noticing that Lance had vanished. She was not suspicious of him at all. She presumed he had found them beaten and handcuffed and brought them straight here to get his payment, presuming he was just an idiot that fell for a trick.

"Guards! Come take him to the special room! I want to have my own fun with him!" she called out. Mr. And Mrs. Loud watched their son be carried limply away, his twin following with a happy stroll like she was singing a victory jingle in her head.

Lincoln could see where he was taken to. Of all places, it was a kitchen with the windows barred up. He was awake, but his body was numb. He had no idea what he had been injected with, and had a feeling he did not want to know. The guards left after resting the teenage mafia leader in a chair in front of a table, his head lying on it.

"Sorry, but this kitchen here is the only room that could hold most of the tools…" Lincada apologized, "Too bad none of this stuff works anyway beyond the stove top."

"I'm not a key part of this plan anyway. I just need to be a distraction… now how do I do this when I can't even swallow my own spit?" Lincoln wondered in his head. He could do nothing with his body beyond move his fingers and toes. He felt like he was suffering brain damage, drooling slightly on the table.

"So since I need to figure out where our niece and the rest of our sisters are, I only gave you a small dose of the numbing medication, so it'll lighten up soon," Lincada got up. Lincoln did his best to follow with his eyes to watch her go to a locked cabinet and use her key to open it up, "I made sure to bring my favorite tools I got from Lansing though! Normally they are used to teach idiots lessons, but I think interrogation is a good alternative for them."

"Whoa… jeez…!" Lincoln thought to himself again as several items were removed from the cabinet and placed out of his vision.

"Here you go," Lincada put a chain around his forearm, locking it in. Her twin could feel how tight it was, and could feel a chill of dread hit him each passing moment. Fortunately, he was beginning regain his ability to move his neck. He tilted his head slightly to see that the chain was welded onto the large refrigerator beside the stove.

"Wha… what…?" Lincoln tried to ask what she planned to do, when he saw a small tray of tools get laid nearby, a large hammer, multiple knives, a pair of sharp pliers and a tazer.

"Now we get to play the waiting game until you can speak again," Lincada sat across from him on the other side of the table. Lincoln was happy to hear that.

"Gruhh…" he gargled. Once the two hour clock was ran out, that was when the plan could start. He hoped everyone wouldn't let him down, and hoped he wouldn't let them down either.

"I can't believe this," Lance kept the silver spherical EMP in his hand as he wandered around. He had left his family back in Lansing in hopes to get that debt handled, only to have wasted time.

"All the trouble of doing that work… and this is the thanks I get. I doubt even Lincoln would treat me better," Lance pulled the ruby bull ring out of his pocket. He wanted to just throw it in the trash can and leave to let the two mafias handle themselves on this matter, but he stopped himself.

"…but… he didn't even lay a hand on my face when I did all that harm to him and Estrella… and Estrella didn't do a thing to abuse me, either," Lance recalled that encounter. For not even knowing Lincoln for a day, he felt more trust in him than any other employer he could ever know, and he thanked his co-worker Estrella for keeping him in her wing before that dreadful fire happened.

"Well… if there is even a small chance that this'll help my family, then I'll do it. Spitting in Lincada's face is just a bonus," Lance placed the EMP in a tight spot on a bookshelf. Things were going to become hectic soon. "I'm rooting for you, Lincoln."


	77. Unraveled

"Now talk, Lincoln!"

Lincoln could control his body again, but all he could move was his head and torso. Anything else was too weak to follow along. He had a few new bruises on his face. He was able to talk, but he refused to open his mouth and speak.

"Come on! Talk! If you talk, I might be nice enough to let you wait in the same prison with your sisters and girlfriend," Lincada offered. Lincoln remained mute, keeping himself a distraction. Time was ticking by and each minute he bought was another minute closer to when his family would be saved.

"Hm? Oh... An engagement ring… I guess being afraid of dying would make you want to get a soulless contract for a courtroom battle later down the road made," Lincada stretched as she got up, and she used one hand to rub his head. He was confused a lot by her actions. One minute his twin would be nice, and then she would be threatening him the next.

"That or you just used them because you wanted to at least lose your virginity to Ronnie Anne before you die," Lincada giggled. She could tell by his blush that this was the last thing on his mind. He contrarily worried that if he even thought of that, Ronnie Anne would hit him next time she saw him.

"Nothing? Really… I offered you candy, comics, games, your freedom, your girlfriend's freedom… and you still won't talk," Lincada spoke. Lincoln knew that any agreement he made with his twin, she would fail to hold up her half of the deal, or twist it around to make things far worse. "I know you can talk now. I've had that stuff go through me before… so last chance to talk to me, bro."

"I made a big mistake letting you go a month ago… I should have just had you put behind bars… you maniac," the male twin insulted her where he knew it hurt most, which seemed to be her over sized ego. She sighed, standing up and getting the decent sized pliers from the assortment of nearby items.

"Now that we know you can talk… Let's make you sing for me," Lincada said. Her twin had no opportunity to speak again. One punch from his twin stunned him momentarily, and only a moment after, she grabbed him by his face and jabbed the pliers into his mouth. He screamed, feeling the pliers tightly grab onto one of his teeth from the bottom row of his mouth. The sharp tips grabbed onto his molar, and pulled in an agonizing manner.

"Well that's not talking, but singing's nice," Lincada giggled as she twisted and gripped harder, her twin's intensifying screams being ignored by her insensitive ears as she strengthened her grip to make the pliers hold on harder to his tooth.

"There we go!" She pulled hard, ripping out the entire tooth. Lincoln held his mouth, blood coming out between his fingers from the traumatic injury to his gums.

"I may not be a worthless nurse like mom, but in the end, it's so easy to be a dentist that it's pathetic… Guess that's what happens when you waste your life humping with someone without protection," Lincada dropped the tooth onto the tray of tools, out of her brother's reach. Lincada thought he would grab for the knife instantly when he was able to fully control his limbs.

"Are you insane?!" Lincoln cried. It was not the first time he tasted blood, but doing it outside of one of Lucy's occult rituals made it feel a lot worse than it actually was. He had probably done nearly everything with his family, but he wished committing crimes was removed on that checklist and never done.

"I am… Now will you kindly tell me where the rest of our little family is? Maybe I'll even let little Lily live. In my little world, killing everyone is fun and torturing them slowly is even better, but letting one live after seeing everyone they loved be brutally murdered? Just knowing that they'll suffer for their whole lives is exciting," Lincada offered rhetorically while demanding information again

"And you have no qualms about doing it?" Lincoln claimed. His twin knew he was not the type to murder normally, but she wondered if he had been provoked by her constant torment that he had snapped. When Lincada opened her mouth to reply, blood was spat in her face.

"The best thing you can do is spare the others, and kill only me," Lincoln groaned out, "Because out of everyone who's at the risk of dying… in the end it's just you and me, that are under any real threat."

"…Blood from the gums? Oh no… that must mean you have another cavity. Let's remove it right away," Lincada glared while getting the pliers again. It only took moments for the makeshift torture room was filled with screams of painful agony.

"Boss?" a bismuth guard entered into the room, not seeming detoured at all by the constant crying of pain.

"What is it? I'm giving my brother some much needed dental care and we barely just started," Lincada requested her goon to hurry up as she twisted the pliers to increase the pain.

"We've got multiple vehicles heading our way one, of the workers caught notice of this and alerted us that they're coming… It looks like the rubies chose not to hide," the bismuth mafia member explained. Lincada raised an eyebrow, looking to her brother whose tears generated from all the pain he endured, despite the hateful glare he was still giving her.

"Huh… Well let's go check this out. Please be safe bro, because once this is dealt with, I'll start killing your sisters in front of you until you talk," Lincada finally ripped out the second tooth, giggling as she rested it on the tray beside the other tooth. She grabbed a knife just in case she needed it and left with her worker, locking the kitchen door behind them.

"Haah… ooohhh… I win…" Lincoln coughed, his head tilted back in his chair. After two gruelling hours of torture, his workers were about to arrive and soon his family would be out of captivity. If his plan did go right.

"Come on… come on…" Ronnie Anne thought to herself. After two hours of waiting, she was impatient and irritated. She, Bobby and the Louds weren't out of their prison yet. As if on cue, Lance entered the prison room. Here he saw Ronnie Anne and the others in captivity, and three guards watching out for intruders.

"What is it? Do we have another prisoner?" one guard of the three requested. Lance pulled out the remote control, gripping it in the palm of his hand. His ruby ring was being worn formally, with no effort to hide it.

"Yeah… you three." Lance hit the button, and all of the lights went out in the building. The bismuth members wondered what he had done, when the sounds of chains clattering to the floor alerted them, followed by the sound of the electronic lock smashing into the floor.

"There's a lesson here… Don't mess with people smarter than you," Ronnie Anne declared with a grin as everyone in the cage stood outside, free, angry and eager now to get their hands dirty.

"Yeah…! Wait, Lisa isn't here," Leni spoke.

"Sigh, Leni… let me rephrase that," Lori coughed, "Don't mess with the ruby animal mafia!"

"You'll all pay for what you've done to us!"

"You threatened my sister and daughter!"

"Where are our parents?!"

"I'm going to show you the definition of hard rock!"

"My dark masters will be pleased after I gather your hair for a sacrifice."

"You 'caged' the wrong 'animals'!"

"Luan!"

"Heheh… glad to be serving the ruby mafia. For you bismuth scum, it's goodnight!" Lance chuckled. When the EMP was activated, it had taken out all power and electronics within a half-mile radius, it would stay that way for thirty minutes, so no one was going to get the ability to call for backup from the rest of the bismuth mafia members outside of the building.

"Have at it," Ronnie Anne laughed, letting the Loud family and her brother attack the three guards while she and Lance willingly watched and let them get their pent up rage out from being trapped for so long.

"Wow… that is a lot of anger," Lance claimed with a surprise, seeing how viciously at the moment the bismuth crewmates were being ravaged.

"I'd get in on this, but I know we've got a lot more to deal with beyond that door," Ronnie Anne stated. This poor trio was just an easy start to a large group, even if most of them were out hunting.

Outside, the vehicles were lining up as a large mob of bismuth members stood in front of the building. Dozens of ruby animal members disembarked from the vehicles.

"Wow… there's a lot more then the boss said there would be," David lit a cigarette while taking to the front lines, an energy-full Maddison beside him with two energy pops in her mouth at once.

"Most are probably ransacking the base, but they shouldn't have any way to call them back," Jeffrey stepped up as one of the leaders of the platoon, not in his usual doctor coat with his clothes more loose than usual.

"Are you sure you're up to fighting? Who's taking care of Estrella?" Maddison asked.

"I'm a neurologist with minor degrees in everything, not a dermatologist. There's a lot more doctors than just me at that hospital," Jeffrey pulled out a pair of brass knuckles with spikes on the end of them, slipping them onto his hands.

"Fair enough," David pulled out a sharp-tipped tazer, the same one he had been attacked with at the restaurant a long time back.

"The boss needs us now more than ever," Danny chimed up. He stood beside Jackson, their faces busted and bruised.

"We're all in debt to'em. Either we help all of Michigan by stopping this madness and saving the most sane kind mafia leader in existence… or we die trying," Jackson declared. Most of the ruby members agreed. The five leaders did not take much effort to get them all to agree to help. They were more than glad to.

"Well then… this is a shocking appearance… handle them," Lincada ordered her goons while she watched from the inside to the doorway.

"For the Louds!" the sound of the ruby group hit her ears as she turned around, beginning to head inside, to let her members handle things while she prepared something herself.


	78. Stalemate?

War had begun outside between the ruby animal mafia and the bismuths. Unconscious bodies lay all over the streets, with blood, teeth and pieces of clothing everywhere. The rubies came with only half the numbers, but they fought as strong as the bismuths, despite them having triple the manpower.

"What is going on?! I thought the plan was to make sure they couldn't call for help for this exact reason!" Jeffrey asked while ducking under another swing at him, punching his attacker in the stomach before decking him in the face, and knocking him out with his pointed brass knuckles.

"This is just how big their group is! Lansing's got a lot more people in it than Royal Woods," David claimed while blocking a harsh kick to his chest, before jabbing his attacker in the neck with his tazer, knocking him out instantly.

"We're never gonna get inside at this rate," Danny growled while using one of the bismuth group as a personal shield when multiple pepper balls got shot at him by a former SWAT team member who had not turned over his weapons.

"Dealing with these guys is worth it!" Jackson declared while taking one of the pepper ball launchers, unloading every last shot into every bismuth member, making them start coughing and losing vision instantly.

"It's been ages since I've broken this many bats! Hahahah!" the Mad Batter was holding out very well, as she blew through every bat in one of her two bags filled with them, breaking them over skulls and bodies. The strength she put behind each attack was immense.

"Hey, that's not playing nice," Maddison noticed a knife plunged into her side. That was about the fourth stab wound she had received, but she had so much of her drugs in her system at the moment that she could not feel a thing. She just took the knife out and stabbed her attacker in the leg with it before knocking them out.

"Let's just hope they're doing better on the inside than we are outside," David could only think that as the good side at the moment was to hope for things inside to go well.

"Wow… they're not running out of steam…" Ronnie Anne commented. They had probably been through a good couple dozen bismuth members inside, all of who were mobbed by the Louds, Ronnie and her brother barely got a chance to fight half the time. Lance had gone to help the rest of the members fight outside.

"We still can't find any of them…" Lori exhaled in frustration. Every room they went into in hopes of finding their parents or Lincoln turned out to be filled with nothing but bismuth members, ready to battle or taken by surprise.

"And the vents aren't the kind we can crawl through," Lana chimed up disappointingly. She and Lucy tried to see if they could use the ventilation of the building to move around easier, sadly there were too many rats, spiders and other bugs inhabiting them from the lack of use in the last month.

"Hey, look down there," Lynn pointed out. Lincada was walking through the building with an object in hand dispensing a long wire trailing behind her that seemed to lead to an unknown location.

"Well, that's as good a lead to the others as we'll probably get," Lola commented. It was either follow their estranged sibling, or keep going around to random rooms, fighting everyone they saw in the hopes of finding the others.

"Let's do the stalking option," Luan laughed, more than happy to follow. They all made their way for the staircase and began to follow the wire, and it thankfully gave them an easy trail to follow, so the Louds and Santiagos did not have to worry about being caught.

"What do we do when we catch up to her?" Leni worriedly asked, the group wondering what they should even do to Lincada. She was one of the family, despite her horrible treatment to them.

"Depends on what she's done to Lincoln… for me, anyway," Ronnie Anne said.

"Give her the spanking she desperately needs," Lori claimed. Whoever had raised Lincada had not been the most strict, that or she snapped after her caretakers died. Both were equally possible.

"I don't think I could hit someone related to me…" Luna murmured. She never had the guts for that kind of stuff. She liked using her words more than anything, as she used it often for her music anyway.

"I'll leave it to you guys," Bobby stated, unwilling to hurt Lincada, considering they had a lot of personal family issues to go through. If a fight did begin, then that was what was to happen by fate's accord. Bobby would support his girlfriend's decision, no matter what.

"Is this it?" they saw a pair of double doors, the wire leading under it. The group entered the makeshift office that Lincada inhabited, and saw the Loud parents tied up on the other side of the room.

"Watch it," Ronnie Anne grabbed Bobby aside, as the group of girls went over to their parents to free them from their captivity. Lincada however was nowhere to be seen. When they got the gag off their mother, she looked panicked.

"Girls, stop her! She's hiding behind the door!" Mrs. Loud then immediately heard the sound of the doors closing shut.

"What the?!" Ronnie Anne and Bobby grabbed the door handles, trying to open it with force. The lock was on their side, yet for some reason, they could not open it, with some effort they were able to open it slightly and could see through it.

"No way! She tied it shut!" Bobby declared, shocking everyone. The handles of the double doors had been tied together by multiple layers of the wire. He could even see Lincada walking away with that creepy, calm walk. Like she was a ghost roaming a haunted house.

"Can we cut it?" Lucy suggested while everyone else removed the bindings from their parents.

"With what?!" Lori retorted, "The sharpest thing we have is Luan's teeth, and her head might be hollow, but it isn't going to fit between the door!"

"Guess we really 'bit' more than we could 'chew'," Luan laughed, somehow able to make light of the situation while trying to calm everyone down.

"Luan!" Most shouted in unison. They hoped Lincoln was alright. Him not being in the room captured with their parents was more concerning than anything.

"Come… on…" Lincoln groaned while trying to break the chain from the refrigerator, or off his arm. Sadly, he had no luck. It only led to him hurting himself more than anything.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried biting your arms off yet," Lincada entered the room, her male twin staring at her as she closed the door behind her. She had a weird spool of wire following her that was attached to a weird portable lever switch.

"I would, but you ripped out some of my teeth!" Lincoln replied angrily, his cheeks partially swollen from the very aggressive tooth removal. At least now he would not have to worry about getting those two wisdom teeth removed.

"Well, that'll be the least of your worries. Whatever you were planning has failed… and I'm going to make sure you can never win," Lincada explained as she sat at the table across from him.

"I can hear the fight outside… Are you going to give up and make up for your crimes now?" Lincoln questioned, wondering if she was going to surrender now. It was not much but it would be grandly appreciated.

"'fraid not. You see, your family managed to break out, so… since I can't get them all gathered up, we're going to just go with what we have, and instead of rotting in jail, I thought we could all die together in this building."

Lincoln glared angrily. "What do you mean?"

"Since everything wireless and electrical isn't working… I figured I'd just use the emergency wired remote trigger," she explained while fiddling her fingers on it, "I rigged this thing for a bomb I placed here a while back. Funny how oblivious drug addicts can be, huh?"

"You can't be serious. I know you're insane, but you wouldn't do a thing like that," Lincoln mocked her, until she gripped one hand tightly onto the lever.

"Eh… well take it from me. If I can't win, no one can!" she pulled the lever. Lincoln felt that moment last forever. That scary calm smile on her face, the horror and lack of remorse frightened him.

"You… what did you just…?" Lincoln could only stutter. The building rumbled and he heard things falling apart. The floor was cracking and beginning to give way. With another spark of anger, Lincoln was about to grab for her, and all he got was a hard jerk back from the refrigerator he was bound to. The area behind them was cracking away, and so was the floor underneath them. The last thing he heard was his own screams as everything faded to black with the building collapsing around him.


	79. Sacrifice

The sound of sirens blared as Lincoln's eyes were slow to open. Everything was a blur. All he could see was the destroyed, cracked floor beneath him, with a pool of blood around himself.

"Lin…cada?" Lincoln coughed. His hair felt damp. He knew his head had a large gash in it. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for. He could tell though that he was buried somewhere at the bottom of the building.

"Urk!" Lincoln tried to move, but his right arm sent out a shockwave of pain, which hurt that entire side of his body. His vision was clearing slightly, so he looked over. The refrigerator that he had been bound to was hanging in a pit. The chain was still on his arm, feeling like it was about to be ripped off.

"N… no way," he gasped. His right arm was impaled by two pieces of rebar, one that had been sticking from the ground and one that had fell from one of the pieces of rubble above.

"Someone! Help!" the teenage mafia leader cried while trying to remove his arm from the pole. However, the one that had fallen from above had pierced his arm all the way through and was keeping it stuck to the floor.

"Just… give up…" another weak voice spoke. It took a lot of effort to look that far back to where it came from. Lincada lay on her back, not looking any better than him, pinned under several rocks, flames brewing off to the side of them.

"It's over… You can be happy about one thing, bro… I'm going to die a lot faster than you…" Lincada gasped and wheezed. Lincoln's eyes widened when he realized why.

"Good gosh…! I forgot about the ventilator!" Lincoln realized he disabled it with that EMP. He had let it carelessly slip his mind entirely from the plan.

"I've been sort of able to breathe, but… without it, I haven't had nearly as much oxygen as I should be getting… I've been feeling lightheaded for a while now," Lincada coughed. She could tell by her male twin's tone that he was aware of the mistake made that had taken away the thing helping her live.

"Lincada! I'm sorry I didn't think about you! It'll all be okay though! Just stay put, and…"

"Just shut up already… No one thought about me for awhile… Anyone who did either died or did not care that I vanished in the first place," the female twin said. The lone Loud boy tried once again to move, but his arm only responded with more pain. His muscles were most likely torn to shreds.

"I did care! I cared about your feelings! I went out of my way to learn about you! I felt everything when we had that bond… even if you made it up to use me as a puppet! I used favors and worked hard!" Lincoln grit his teeth, trying to rip himself free, even if he did though, the chains stuck to him would probably take him to his death, "You just couldn't accept the fact that people can move on and don't want to be stuck in a miserable past! You coming back made mom and dad as happy as they were whenever someone was born… but that didn't give you the right to insult them, and go murdering people! …Lincada?"

Lincoln stopped himself, when he realized that he was receiving no response.

"No…! Lincada, don't go dying on me now!" Lincoln began to panic, as behind him, Lincada had her eyes closed and was not responding.

"Mom, dad… Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Bobby… and every last one of my sisters who lived with me… They all helped me get this far. I'm not going to lay here and let us both die! I'm at least going to try and save us both," Lincoln spoke to his unconscious sister. He could only hope his fiancée and Lance had managed to save the rest of his family from the kidnapping before the bomb detonated.

"I wouldn't be anywhere in my life if it weren't for you and everyone I've met… David, Maddison, Jeffrey, Estrella, Danny, Jackson, Lance… and Nora. Especially Nora… she didn't give me a debt… she gave me a reason to open my eyes to the real world. Jayzo and Lazzerson made us stronger and tested our bonds," Lincoln then saw a knife stuck under a rock, from his twins torture tray. He groaned in agony, reaching over stretching to grab it.

"This is probably my worst plan yet… but it's the only way," Lincoln gulped when he had the knife. He as panting, trying to regain his composure since his whole body hurt. He began to sharpen the knife on the floor to the best of his ability, and he rested it beside him.

"Now I need something heavy, and… the weights on my legs! That's right!" he used his free arm to reach down and unstrapped the weights he had tied to his legs. Once released, he felt lighter instantly. He grabbed both weights altogether. He looked to his arm, trying to mentally prepare himself.

"Thanks for injecting me with whatever you did, Lincada… Because this is going to hurt a lot," Lincoln raised the weights up and hammered them onto his forearm, hitting the area midway on the upper part of the forearm.

"Grah!" the white haired teen bit his lip, but he did not stop swinging. Each hit made him bite harder until he began to draw blood from his lip. After a couple dozen whacks, he dropped the weights beside him.

"Ohhh, man… I-I think I broke it… Now for the wo-worst part," Lincoln picked up the knife, looking at it before his face, feeling his hand tremble slightly when his brain processed what he was going to do. He looked to Lincada, who was not going to be of help, even if she was awake.

"Rings stuck to my flesh… and to think I-I was worried about losing fingers… now it's losing an entire limb," Lincoln lightly laughed while the blade of the sharp knife was brought to the broken section of his arm's skin. He closed his eyes, before pressing it against his skin. Howls of agony rung out from his area while he cut and sawed through his flesh and muscle, crying constantly. He accepted that no one was going to save them, but he was going to do whatever it took to save themselves.

"Come… on… a little… more!" Lincoln bit his tongue while continuing to cut, watching the blood spilling out onto the puddle of the floor beneath him. He screamed as his right arm was finally cut off from his body. Lincoln tumbled back, having dropped the knife, the bloodstained item clattering to the ground. The sound of the refrigerator tearing his dislocated hand off as it fell into the abyss echoed. He coughed, grabbing the knife and pocketing it in case he needed it again.

"Need… to stop the bleeding… You've felt worse, Lincoln, just hold on," Lincoln panted as he crawled to the fire. The stump where his good arm once inhabited was bleeding profusely. Combined with the blood he already lost, it would be fatal if not dealt with.

"Mhhhpff!" he grinded his teeth as he stuck the bloodied stump into the fire, feeling it burn on contact. He kept his limb in there for a good minute before pulling it out, panting heavily. His cauterization tactic worked in stopping the bleeding, despite how messy the amputation was otherwise.

"Sorry, everyone, if I look like a freak when you see me," Lincoln mentally apologized, aware that he could die trying to escape nonetheless. He had no regrets for his self-sacrificial choices. He approached his unconscious female twin, beginning to shove the rocks off to her with his one arm.

"Come on get up… Lincada! Please," Lincoln shook her hard. He knew she was not going to awaken now, but he could tell she had a pulse and was breathing only barely. He began to quickly try and remove and shove the rocks off of his female twin with his one arm. It was hard without his good arm, but he managed.

"Alright… come on," Lincoln lifted her up with his one arm, having it wrapped underneath her side. He had a vague idea where they were. He began to move for where he thought the most likely demolished stairs were.

"Have to find… everyone else," Lincoln began to cough. His body was writhing in agony, and he was worried that if he stopped, he would fall unconscious right in the middle of the destructed room.

"Well… at least that's lucky," the mafia leader groaned. The building thankfully had not completely caved in by a miracle. It was still standing to a degree. It was cracked and broken apart, threatening to fall at any minute, but for now it was holding up.

"Open up! Come on!" Ronnie Anne kicked at the doors. The room they were in was only half stable right now. The ceiling had fallen and destroyed the other half of the room, the rest threatening to fall upon them.

"Even after an explosion, it won't open?! Who was the contractor?!" Bobby shoulder tackled the doors, and not even a budge. If anything, the door hinges should be easily popped off now, but it appeared to be just bad luck for them.

"The vent in here was crushed, too," Lucy groaned, having hoped that the smaller Louds could just go around in the vents and open the door from the outside.

"And the windows are buried in rubble," Luna sighed. That option was not available either.

"I guess you can say that idea is 'out the window'," Luan tried to lighten the mood. She didn't even get anybody shouting her name in response. That alone was enough to quiet her.

"Come on! We need to find Lincoln! He's in danger out there!" Lori stated. They could hear the sirens of emergency respondents outside, but they doubted they could get to the building. The war outside between bismuths and rubies was continuing most likely.

"Kids, please calm down. Panicking isn't going to get anything," their father tried to make them calm down, constantly acknowledging that being on an unknown time limit, that most likely was short, would do nothing but make them do bad decisions.

"What is this junk made of?!" Leni asked while trying to help Ronnie Anne and Bobby, Lola and Lana were staying beside their parents, quite upset from the events that had occurred.

"Who cares? Just keep hitting it until it gives!" Lynn replied as she shouldered the door. Once again, even when they all did it together at once, the door took the blows like a thick sheet of titanium.

"I hope they can help Lincoln… wherever he is," Mrs. Loud could only hold her husband's hand for comfort.

"Wait… I think I hear something…" Ronnie Anne could barely hear footsteps and rubble being moved.

"Finally… Wait here," Lincoln coughed while carefully resting Lincada against the wall nearby, the twin boy pulling out the blood-soaked knife from his pocket and approaching the door, scanning the wires wrapped around the handles.

"Everything's blurry and shaking… just great," Lincoln tried to keep his hand steady. He began to cut the wires. Once he had gotten through them all, he tossed the knife away before stepping back.

"T…try to hit it now!" the ruby leader called out, thinking now with the rubble and wires gone, the door should be easy to be busted down.

"Lincoln?! Oh thank goodness," Ronnie Anne was relieved to hear her fiancé's voice. She, her brother Lynn and Leni all hit the door with strong shoulder tackles, watching both of them break off and thud to the floor.

"Way to go bro… oh… my gosh!" Luna had to cover her mouth to try and stop herself from throwing up.

"Lincoln?!" the horror of their son soaked in blood and with only one arm shocked them all, his parents looked destroyed.

"If this is a joke… it isn't funny," Luan could only whimper.

"What did she do to you?!" Lori could only feel angry. She saw Lincada lying nearby, and most of the Louds, presuming it was her fault, wanted to try and confront her, but their brother spoke up.

"T-there's no time for this! Urgh… don't stand around and worrywart about me now…! And don't even try to beat up Lincada… she's been hurt enough…! We all need to get out of here, now!" Lincoln ordered them all to get moving toward the exit. They never had heard him get so upset at himself, "I cut my own arm off to get free to save you all, but right now she's slowly suffocating, thanks to my dumb plan…"

"This is an order, not a-as your brother. But your boss." He glared.

"I'll get her, don't worry," Bobby volunteered to carry Lincada. Ronnie Anne, Lucy and Lynn helped out Lincoln since he looked ready to pass out in front of them.

"Come on, Lame-o, don't give out on me now, you've survived worse." Ronnie Anne requested as the mortified group headed straight for the closest exit, which was one of the many holes in the building's walls.

"Heh… death, if you want, I'll gladly let you take me now…" Lincoln thought. Since his family and loved ones were safe, he had started to lose the adrenaline that had been fueling his body to keep moving in the first place. Every second that passed felt like his heart momentarily skipping a beat from the blood loss.

"Lincoln, baby! Please, stay awake!" Mrs. Loud begged. Her son falling asleep was the worst thing that could happen, but everyone trying to talk or shout to him did nothing to help his status.

"I'll try to wake up before next year… g'night…" one more sigh came out of his lips before he fell into unconsciousness.


	80. The End

**Authors Note: Well all, this is the ending. I wanted to thank you all for the support, but this is not the last chapter. There's one more left, the epilogue. Please enjoy, and let me know what you have thought of this story, and how you enjoyed my daily updating for 3 months straight. Take care.**

Lincoln's eyes slowly opened as he was greeted by an all too familiar blandly colored ceiling, the sounds of a heart monitor beeping every few seconds. He was indeed in the hospital once again.

"Well… at least I know that wasn't a dream…" Lincoln looked to his right arm. There was nothing now beyond a stump slightly past his shoulder, which looked a lot better now with bandaging on it.

"Lily?" the Loud boy realized Lily was laying beside him cuddled up close to him in his hospital bed, looking at peace right now. Of course seeing her crippled brother was a traumatic sight, but the youngest Loud was happy to have her brother and the rest of her family safe.

"Huh?" he heard a yawn. He looked over and noticed Clyde waking up in a nearby chair, Ronnie Anne lying nearby on a longer couch the room had.

"Lincoln? Whoa, dude! You're actually awake!" Clyde jumped up in surprise. He was about to hug his best friend, but he stopped himself, worried that he would hurt him accidentally.

"Come on, Clyde, I can handle a hug," Lincoln laughed lightly. Clyde nodded, reaching down and tightly hugging his best friend. The leader ached a little, but he would tolerate it.

"You're crazy, dude… I can't believe you chopped your arm off," Clyde spoke while the Loud boy was rubbing his other arm on the sleeping youngest Loud's back, while she suckled her thumb, looking a lot more at peace feeling his touch.

"Everyone in my family is crazy, so why can't I be too? That's why we fit into the mafia so perfectly," Lincoln laughed in response when he noticed the bandaging on his head, guessing he had to go to surgery to fix the gashes in his skull.

"How long have I been out?"

"Only about a day and a half the docs were worried your body wouldn't handle the shock...You had about five surgeries since then," Clyde explained to his best friend and boss the white haired boy was surprised that he had only been asleep that long, it was a pleasant thing to find out however.

"Feels like I slept my entire life until now… hahahaha!" Lincoln could only loudly laugh. For some reason, he was so bright and happy. He looked down at his ruby black widow ring, the thing that started all of this. He no longer saw it as a symbol of grief anymore.

"Lincoln, quiet down! The doctors said you need rest, and… uh… Ronnie Anne is not happy with you cutting your arm off," Clyde informed him, insisting he calm down. The bucktoothed boy tilted his head slightly.

"I don't blame her… but come on, Clyde, she's my fiancée. Wake her up for me," Lincoln requested, not wanting to wait any longer for his lover to find out the great news of his recent avoidance of death.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya," the African boy sighed while going over shaking the drained Santiago girl slightly. She grumbled, lying on her stomach on the long seat. She had as much bandaging as her fiancé, but it was more on her body than anywhere specific.

"Where is everyone else, anyway?" Lincoln asked, Lily drooling onto him slightly as he rubbed her head.

"Dude, everyone's been admitted… This hospital is literally full of our workers. The only one who did not get admitted was your mother. She kinda has been doing laps to check up on everyone over and over… Lily wanted to stay with you," Clyde explained. The Loud family was somewhere around the hospital, but most likely not in their usual large group. Only Mrs. Loud, Lisa, Lily and Lobby were spared from admittance.

"She's just becoming clingy to me," he hummed. Ronnie Anne sat up, staring at him in awe like he was a ghost.

"Hey, I promised I'd wake up before next year, remember?" Lincoln jokingly asked, receiving an anticipated flurry of punches to his shoulder.

"You idiot! You moron! You terrified me Lame-o! What kind of lunatic cuts off his own arm?!" Ronnie Anne asked, upset. He really felt these hits, he could tell how upset she was. No one took the news of him losing an arm well.

"A cannibal lunatic?" Lincoln replied, before being hit again. Of course she was upset and blaming herself for this happening. He would not have had to worry about doing anything like that if they weren't trapped.

"Lincoln? Lincoln! Lincoln!" Lily's eager voice spoke up, awoken from the yelling. She had her tiny arms around his neck immediately.

"Hey, Lily, glad to see you finally up," Lincoln smiled while putting his one arm around her in return. Ronnie Anne and Clyde thought the scene before them was precious at least.

"Anyway… sorry for upsetting you, Ronnie Anne," he apologized, letting Lily down before he stood out of the bed, stretching and removing the heart monitor leads from his chest. He felt upbeat and glad to be alive.

"I just… I'm sick of seeing you in such a horrible physical state," Ronnie Anne could only speak in response.

"Well, you won't have to anymore…" her fiancé took his sunglasses out from the nearby bag, glad his shark tooth necklace was alright, "Hey, what happened to the bismuths?"

"They cleared out of town when their leader was captured," the second-in-charge stated, watching him put the sunglasses on his head, while Lily sat wondering why he was not staying in bed.

"You need more rest, man. I mean not many can handle five surgeries in a day's time… let alone one done by yourself," Clyde insisted, amazed he was not traumatized by the experience, that or he was able to overcome and accept doing this.

"I've rested enough. Right now I need to go talk to Lincada… I know she's been admitted here, too," Lincoln stated. Judging by the two's faces, they knew this as well.

"I'll meet you guys later. Do me a favor and gather up all my family," Lincoln exclaimed, happily rubbing Lily's head. He would deal with whenever he was stopped by doctors.

"Please come safe, Lincoln!" Lily requested.

"Don't worry, there's nothing threatening us anymore, Lily," Lincoln reassured, letting Ronnie Anne and Clyde take her away to the rest of the Loud family while he boy searched for his twin, hoping that she was alright.

After a few minutes, he got directions from a nurse, who led the one armed mafia leader down to the floor beneath his. Room 489 had a lot of security guards stationed on this floor, and he knew why.

"Hey, are you awake?" Lincoln called out while stepping into the room. The curtains for the windows were closed and things were slightly dark.

"Oh wow… a visitor… one not here to quadruple check my shackles," Lincada responded upon nearing her hospital bed, the male twin coming to her saw what she meant. Two handcuffs, one on both of her ankles and both wrists, were binding her to the hospital bed.

"Glad to see you breathing," Lincoln joked, as he saw an oxygen tank instead of a ventilator. He guessed it was only a matter of time before she got her ventilator back.

"How long did it take before they arrested you?" the young boy opened the curtains to let some light into the room, glad the bismuth leader was a lot more relaxed now around him.

"I was out of surgery by the time they stopped my internal bleeding… Now here I am, being charged with multiple first degree murders and four counts of terroristic activity," Lincada declared. It did not take long to find all the evidence to incriminate her after they had DNA samples taken from her.

"You sure are happy to be getting life in prison… Just because it starts in juvenile hall doesn't mean it's much different from regular jail," Lincoln quirked, finding this odd while rubbing his head with his one arm.

"Welllll… y'see, the judicial system sucks a lot, bro. We both know this… I'll be able to go on a light twenty year sentence, according to my lawyer, by pleading insanity," Lincada laughed. Lincoln knew she was right on that front. A big part of courtroom battles was manipulating the jury.

"You've got that right, sadly… You've learned from your mistake, right?" Lincoln requested, aware that her defense attorney would most likely use her horrible history and life growing up, like a traumatic road that inevitably led to mental insanity. No other bismuth members were around to testify either. All had fled to get back to their lives.

"It's my fault… You were right. Before I blacked out, you said this is because I couldn't let go of a grudge I had. While I've been captive in this room. I've had a lot of time to think, and… I think it's time to move on from it all," Lincada explained, looking saddened to know what she had done and all the lives she had ended.

"Well sis, it's nice to hear you actually listened to me for once… Has anyone else been in here?" Lincoln questioned.

"Mom and dad came to apologize… It was very sad to actually feel connected to them, but it just made me feel like a bigger idiot, and all it led to was crying," Lincada answered. Their parents had come to let their estranged daughter know they loved her, despite all that had happened. They felt like it was their fault that she caused this.

"I'm just glad you learnt from all of this… It's going to take a lot more work though to make people forgive you for all this, but confessing is a good start," Lincoln stated, showing his stump of an arm.

"I told you I'd treat you like one of the family, so I did everything I could to save you," the white haired boy declared. His female twin understood. Society was going to harshly view her, no matter how long she served in prison.

"Well let me start making it up to you… 'cause I know you saving us both cost you an arm, and nearly a leg. Y'see, when we took Jayzo's buildings, we found a lotta blueprints, including the one his goons designed for his robot arms," Lincada explained the first thing she would do to show how apologetic she was to him.

"Seriously? You think Lisa could make me an arm with those?" Lincoln smiled. Imagining it alone was exciting. He looked down at his bandaged stump once again.

"I'm sure she could do a lot of things with half of the blueprints. They're stashed away in that hotel, the one we first met in, stashed under the floorboards," the incarcerated bismuth leader grinned, "I know you're going to need both hands to take care of those twenty kids your girl wants."

"Y'know, after all this… I think I'll gladly take that challenge," Lincoln laughed, before putting his hand on hers.

"I'll visit you later, but right now, I need to go announce something to my family," the lone Loud boy informed her.

"Alright… do take care, bro," she nodded, watching her male twin leave the room, the door closing behind him. Only for security to come in after, to do a check and make sure nothing was tampered with.

"Wow… I thought I said only gather the family," Lincoln coughed, upon entering into the gathering room where patients could come watch television together. The Loud family was there indeed, but so were a lot of the ruby workers.

"We did, Lame-o. These guys were just here arguing over what to watch," Ronnie Anne stated. They saw several people get knocked over by Maddison as she stood up with the remote control in hand.

"Hahahah! I win! We get to watch the falling dead," the mad batter declared. Lincoln was not a fan of zombie shows. He liked soap operas and hero stuff, but he hadn't much time lately to watch either.

"Is this what it's like to be a patient?" Jeffrey exhaled in frustration, having a cast on his arm after breaking his limb during the large fight the other day.

"Lincoln! We're so glad to see you up," Lori happily stated with Lobby in her arms. The baby looked happy to be reunited with her parents, and Bobby looked gladder to just be alive for them both.

"Yeah, little bro! The doctors were worried that you would be out for months again," Luna said. The Loud boy felt the twins' arms around his waist. Most of the Loud family had minor bandaging and treatments now from the incident. It was just another miracle of luck.

"I promised to wake up before next year, didn't I?" Lincoln lightly laughed, rubbing the twins' heads, aware how terrified they were of losing him again.

"Where were you? Ronnie Anne and Clyde told us to not try and bother you until you came here yourself," Leni asked, worried that the doctors had pulled him aside for some reason for more tests.

"I had to visit Lincada. Sorry for making you guys worry," Lincoln apologized.

"Oh gosh! Did she threaten you?"

"Is she okay at least?"

"Bad idea, bro."

"That must've been a 'killer' conversation."

"Luan!"

"Calm down, calm down! Don't worry, she didn't threaten me one bit. She's sorry for what she did… she means it, too… I think she'll be fine," Lincoln insisted everyone to calm down. Ronnie Anne was still mad at him, while Clyde was just letting the family talk.

"I wanted to apologize to you all again for me being an idiot… that got us entangled into this mess to begin with," he started, still remembering the day his life was marked to change forever in his mind.

"Lincoln, don't worry about it. Mistakes happen," Lynn reassured it was nothing, so did their other family members.

"Yeah, son… you did it to help out the family… we didn't want you to be burdened with our money troubles, but we thank you for fixing it for us," Mr. Loud thanked him. The Loud family did not have any money troubles anymore.

"Finding your sister for us brought some peace to mind," Mrs. Loud said while holding Lily. It was not the end result they wanted, but it was nice to know she was alive, in spite of all.

"Well I'm here to announce that with Jayzo in jail, Lazzerson deceased and Lincada facing prison as well, we can resume with helping out royal woods, hopefully with what's left of the topaz and emerald members aiding us if they wish. I know Poima and Nora wanted this, so that's what we're gonna do," Lincoln started to hear a round of applause. The members that had been watching television listened to his miniature speech, and applauded this news.

"Hopefully this time, it lasts. We cripples need to stick together, right?" David chimed up with a cigarette in his mouth, having ignored all hospital rules of no smoking inside. The joke gained a light laugh from Lincoln.

"You're the first person who supported my craziness for being useful! I'm going to follow you to the end!" Maddison declared. She had been punished by Nora, Jayzo and Lazzerson when she was running around, working for all three of them. No one supported her crazy 'attack first before talking' type of lifestyle until Lincoln came along.

"I'll be around, that's for sure," Doctor Jeffrey smiled, "No hospital will give me the same amount of satisfaction as working for you."

"We owe ya our lives," a very battered and bruised Danny gave a thumbs up.

"Yeah! We'd be severed pieces six feet down under, if you and your gal hadn't stepped in," Jackson added while in a wheelchair. He had taken a heavy beating to his legs, but he would be fine after some recovery.

"You cared about us more than Nora did… You cared about the people who wore the rings, instead of just how many they had." Estrella brushed her hair back. She looked a lot better, now that she had been treated for her burn injuries, but she was not going to be able to work in a Chop Shop or any garage for until she fully healed.

"You didn't even abuse your power."

"Thanks to you Louds and Santiagos, I was able to be less afraid, and I'm going to be a mother next year!"

"I had all the fingers but one chopped off my left hand, because of my goof ups. You spared me for my failures when Nora promised my next mistake'd be my last."

"You got my family free from working for Jayzo! We're back to teaching college drop outs instead of making dangerous things in a lab!"

"If it weren't for you, my twin would have never gotten the rehab help he needs."

Lincoln and his family was just awestruck, hearing all these people, their workers, friends, the group members all speaking up their gratitude and reassurance that they were going to be loyal to them no matter what.

"Lance? I figured you were going to return to your family now," Lisa spoke, seeing the familiar golden tooth man step up.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me from being… well, a petty street punk who listened to lies, and for giving me a second chance to fix my life mistakes," Lance thanked them all for the mercy he was given at the chop shop the man with the mouth full of gold was looking to be the next head in charge of the next chop shop since Estrella was not able to work

"Don't worry about it, lance. You helped save my family… Oh, right, I forgot… does anyone have a checkbook?" Lincoln requested, Mrs. Loud giving him hers to borrow, Lola handing him a pen.

"Aaand… there! Just like promised," Lincoln ripped out the check and handed it over. Lance looked at it in awe.

"Wh-whoa… my debt's only twenty thousand. You wrote thirty thousand here," he pointed out what he thought was a mistake. The ruby mafia leader had that same reassuring smile.

"The rest is to help start your new life. I know you wanted to move your family out of Lansing, right?" Lincoln insisted, "We've gotta take care of our workers of any kind."

"Lincoln… I'm proud of you," Mrs. Loud smiled at how generous her son was. No one argued his decision. They had plenty of money anyway, but he could have just given Lance the cash for the debt and not a penny more.

"Lincoln… no… Boss, I'll make sure to be your best worker," Lance happily exclaimed. Lincoln was glad to hear that, and he didn't cringe once at being called boss.

"Hey! How about we take a picture? We have everyone gathered up, after all," Leni suggested.

"This is the start of a change for royal woods… That'd be a great idea!" Lori happily agreed. She needed a family photo with Lobby in it anyhow.

"Boy I never knew my life would go this crazy that's for sure," Bobby nodded, agreeing to a picture, but he still had trouble believing half the things that happened.

"Picture, picture!" Lily giggled.

"That sounds good," Lucy grinned, more than happy for this.

"Hospital gown or not, I'll still look the best!" Lola laughed. One of the doctors coming by got grabbed and given Lori's cellphone after they got him to agree to take a picture for them. Everyone gathered up in one group.

"I guess I am good at being a boss," Lincoln thought while getting in the front center, holding Ronnie Anne's hand, Clyde getting beside him and putting a hand on his shoulder. The Louds and Santiagos got to be the front of the group since they were the leaders with grand examples.

"Alright, smile and say cheese," the doctor said.

"Cheese!" the entire room gave their biggest smiles as the photo was snapped. After it was taken, however, people started talking about a celebration.

"How about pizza?"

"No way! I want cake!"

"Why can't we just have some pie?"

"No way! Burgers would be better!"

"Hot dogs, too!"

"Heh…" Lincoln could only laugh when he watched his family fighting. He looked to his best friend and fiancée.

"Hey man, think you can take one more picture?" Clyde asked from the doctor. He nodded.

"Hey, Ronnie… uh…" Lincoln began to whisper to Ronnie Anne. She looked embarrassed at the request she heard from him.

"Fine… but just this once," Ronnie Anne agreed. Lincoln smiled, wrapping his arm around her, letting her hold onto him, while Clyde got close to the fight going on in the background between everyone in the group over what food to have to celebrate.

"Cheese," the doctor took the photo, the second picture only having the trio of teens looking calm and happy in the front, while there was a lot of fighting in the background. Lincoln took the phone, letting the doctor return to his work.

"Come on. While they fight, let's just go to the cafeteria and get some jello," Lincoln offered.

"Alright. That sounds good to me," Ronnie Anne agreed. She had been starving from not eating since yesterday. Mainly because seeing her fiancé without his arm had made her unable to eat for a short time.

"The simplest of parties are sometimes the best types of parties," Clyde smiled.

The trio headed off to get their food, letting everyone keep fighting away. Lincoln kept his smile as he thought about everyone he knew in this whole mess.

"Thanks for everything you've done for me, all of you... Cheers for the ruby animal mafia."

 **The end...**


	81. Epilogue

**A Brothers Debt Epilogue.**

 **Fic written by: The Loud Author of Fanfiction dot net**

 **Assistant Proofreader: The-Irish-Clover of deviantart dot com**

 **Very important Authors Note at the end of this! Please do not complain of the length, I wanted this epilogue to only be one chapter, and give it a good farewell to my first fic, I worked immensely hard this last week to get that done for you all! Please, enjoy.**

Six years had passed. Royal Woods had grown into perhaps the friendliest town to stop by, drawing tourists and many families looking for homes, or new places to settle. The crime rate had dropped dramatically for the now slowly growing big city.

"Hard to believe it's been this long since I last stepped foot in this town," a pair of red shoes tread along the sidewalk. The morning sun shined brightly upon them as they neared the state prison outside of town, the car they arrived here with being parked nearby.

"This is the first place of many in today's stops," she stretched, her long black hair allowed to flow freely as she wandered in her red shirt and jeans, her glasses hanging from her shirt. The woman entered into the prison.

"I have an appointment with one of the convicts here," she said while one of the security guard checked her for weapons or any illegal contraband. Once that was done, the guard nodded.

"8:35 appointment with Jayzo Kiandly, we'll have him in shortly," the guard let the raven haired woman continue to the room where meetings were held between convicts and their lawyers, but also worked just as well for more personal meetings that families could have.

"What in tarnation's goin' on here? I didn't recall agreeing to any meetings with anybody," Jayzo's voice sounded. As a convict with multiple life sentences, he tended to spend most of his days in his cell, and barely anywhere else.

"I paid them to make sure our meeting went through. It's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Kiandly," she spoke up. The man with fake less high tech arms stared in awe at the person across from him in the room, once he was sat at the table the guard began to leave.

"I'll be stationed outside," the guard informed them to contact him if something occurred, the door closing. The topaz machinery leader could only stare at the woman, like he was seeing a ghost.

"Come now, Jayzo. You aren't the type to stare," she laughed.

"Oh, what in the name of high noon… it's you. And here I figured you died in a ditch somewhere," Jayzo responded, "I could never get that face outta my brain for years… Nora!"

"Jayzo, you know I'm not the type to die that easily… Then again, at least I was not so afraid of children that I felt the need to break the rules and discharge a firearm in a pathetic attempt to win," Nora retorted. The Texan groaned, not wanting to be reminded of the very thing that ended his days of freedom, and had him sent to this concrete fortress.

"So what brings you to my humble abode? I reckon you've come to mock me and rub it in my face?" Jayzo sneered.

"No… I just wanted to stop by and say hello while I'm around… I have a lot of places to be today. I thought I'd come visit the once most intelligent man in the field of medicine," Nora claimed while adjusting her glasses on her face.

"You're lucky I'm behind bars, Nora…! Those two brats in your team gave me a reaaaal short fuse for my anger," Jayzo threatened her. Ever since he got that large dose of Jianko formula, he had got a lot angrier, and was able to be made mad easily, but since he had gotten only that certain dose his personality was more in control.

"Yes… I remember that day well… the same day my position of power was dethroned and people began to fear and respect the two of them because they took you down," Nora rubbed her head. Lincoln always found a way to surprise her, and when news reached her of what he did to Jayzo, that was the very point where she deemed him the one more suited for leadership than her.

"Well, it was a pleasure catching up with you Kiandly, but I must be off to pay my respects to the dead," the former ruby mafia leader claimed, standing up and beginning to leave, allowing Jayzo to return to his prior activities.

"Forget you, Nora… or in fact, I won't forget you," Jayzo shook his head solemnly, "You're the one who hired those two who practically ended my life."

Another hour in the day passed as Nora walked through the gate into the Pinebrook Cemetery, the summer sun shimmering down brightly onto the area.

"My… this is quite lively for a graveyard," Nora commented, seeing multiple individuals here. Presumably there was a lot here to mourn the loss of their loved ones. It just was coincidental that many were here at once.

"Mhm… so this is where you were laid to rest, my old foe?" the older woman stood in front of a gravestone, taking her glasses off her face and putting them into her shirt pocket.

"Here lies Lazzerson Cenvary, a man who spent a lot of his life in pain. May he not be judged for his crimes, but his strength to face every day bravely."

"I know it may not be incense, but I felt as if it would be more fitting for you," Nora spoke to the air while pulling out a joint and lighter, lighting it ablaze. Smoke began to come from the end of it as she rested it upon the stone slab. She remained on one knee, her eyes closed while she paid her respects.

"No… way! Either the energy pops have finally destroyed my mind, or the hundreds I've murdered are haunting me in the form of my ex-boss! …I hope it's the second thingy!"

Nora sighed, standing up and turning around. "Well, Mad Batter, I anticipated our meeting. I just would have preferred for it to be in a less depressing setting."

Maddison stood there in that all too familiar frog-hooded coat the ginger girl had gotten hers repaired over the years now it looked bright colorful and brand new

"This is where my first two children were buried! I was worried you had been killed by Lazzerson or some of Jayzo's loose goons ages ago," the Mad Batter grinned, pulling the hood back and revealing her new hair, which she had dyed a rainbow of colors.

"My time of fighting for control in Royal Woods came and passed… I failed my mother, but if the word spreading through the criminal underground is correct, Lincoln has fulfilled what I once desired to do?" Nora replied. Maddison nodded, pulling out another energy pop and consuming it whole.

"I didn't know what you wanted to do. I just know you used to have three things dangling between your legs before you got 'em all chopped off!" the crazed former baseball star gave a thumbs up. She was here to pay her respects to her deceased children, but seeing her former boss was a pleasant surprise.

"Yes, but rest assured, I have no regrets for following my mind's desires… How have you been, if I may inquire?" Nora responded while beginning to walk beside her former employee. Three bat filled baseball bags were on her back now instead of two.

"Well, uh… things have been great and normal, but my days are soooo boring now… Those pathetic street punks lately don't give me much of a challenge," Maddison whined.

"Ah… I imagine those tumors in the alleys are not much of a threat," Nora nodded, understanding the frustration. The Mad Batter did hate that she had to let people live instead of finishing them off, but that was the orders of their pacifist boss. She and Maddison sat on a bench.

"But you're telling me you're bored of beating people up, Maddison? My… I guess daily fighting with your brute strength and insanity would become boring when repeated infinitely."

"That's not the boring part. That's one of the only things to look forward to anymore," the rainbow haired batter sighed, thinking she would tell her ex-boss her basic daily routine so she could understand better.

"After breakfast, I work every day with David. When work's done, we go back to our home, eat up, go to sleep, get woken up five times a night… and then it's rinse and repeat. Luckily I don't need much sleep anyway. Energy pops at it as always! And I'm so sore from the feeding, but they just won't take formula. If David didn't have both arms again, I'd be in trouble… well, more than usual."

"Wait… you and David had children?" Nora quirked an eyebrow while fixing her glasses back over her eyes. She then laughed lightly, "The craziest and the calmest of the group… My, the world certainly is funny."

"We had twins about a year ago. It was an accident, really, and pregnancy made us put on hold what we liked. David went nuts when he stopped smoking, not to mention I had to give up my energy pop stash, or else he'd give me a long speech," Maddison looked exhausted from recalling it. Nora could guess the repeated talk was over taking drugs when pregnant. She was at least glad that they somehow resisted their addictions.

"Well, congratulations… What did you name them?" the raven haired girl viewed the picture of the two infant newborns, a boy and a girl, being held by David in a rocking chair. He now had two arms again, having gone through an experimental full arm transplant with great success thus far.

"Davey and me both agreed to name one each. I named the boy Peross and he named the girl Jeressca," Maddison declared with a bright smile, looking quite proud of the names.

"Well, those are some unique names. I hope they turn out as good as you two… That was meant to be a compliment… I must go and meet some of your other co-workers. Please do me a favor and pretend you did not see me until tomorrow," Nora requested.

"Oh, don't worry… I'll be too distracted with my sore 'oranges' for a while anyway… That and I gotta go check up on everyone paying for protection," Maddison jokingly reassured as they bid each other goodbye, and she watched Nora begin her walk back to her sports car.

"Things certainly have changed a lot… I wonder how everyone else is doing," Nora started up the engine before going into reverse out of parking lot of the cemetery, the Mad Batter waving energetically while watching her former boss drive away to get to her next destination.

After a rather long drive, the woman came upon a large mechanics workshop. She drove into one of the open shutters, where she witnessed ruby mafia workers all around doing various tasks.

"Why… this has become quite the establishment," Nora got out of her car. It did not seem like a Chop Shop, but the tools were available for the task.

"What can I do for ya?" she heard. Nora turned around to see a taller, messy blonde-haired girl with a red cap, wearing overalls with a red undershirt their front top two teeth missing, and covered in muck from head to toe. That messy girl was shocked when she realized who stood before her.

"Lana Loud? I believe this is the second time we've met," Nora greeted her. She remembered feigning being an over-emotional child protective services worker when she recovered the money filled case from Lincoln, and that was when she saw all of his sisters at home a long time ago.

"Who-whoa… uh… hang on while I go get my partners," Lana nervously replied. Nora sighed, letting her go. It did not take even a minute for the lone Loud twin to quickly return with Estrella and Lance beside her, both also extremely dirty from the work today.

"Nora?! I can't believe it!" Estrella exclaimed, rubbing her head in shock.

"So this was the last boss?" Lance asked.

"Yeah!" Lana nodded. Lance only had heard tales of the last boss who had vanished from other members, since he joined well after she had left.

"Can't a woman vanish from the grid to start a new life without everyone presuming she's dead?" Nora rhetorically asked. She followed the trio to the office of the mechanics shop, where most business transactions occurred. She then took a seat.

"So I believe if memory serves me correctly, the media online said your prior Chop Shop burnt down?"

"Yeah… there was an incident with a fourth mafia that came straight outta nowhere… They've been dealt with though. I wouldn't be alive if Lance hadn't saved me," Estrella declared, looking apologetic for having lost the business.

"And, for the record, this isn't a Chop Shop," Lance corrected her.

"It was built to be a Chop Shop at first, but we started picking up so much business that we'd just be losing money and wasting time chopping up cars," Lana explained. They received dozens of customers and vehicles daily, ranging from big to small problems and repairs. They worked their hardest to handle them all, with other coworkers aiding them.

"Hm… I take it that she's the boss of this business?" Nora asked. Lana looked sheepish at being referred as that. It was not wrong, but she still was embarrassed to be seen in any leadership position.

"It made sense. She knows the most about cars," Estrella claimed. She had spent the last few years working in a garage, but Lana knew a lot more than they did that she was a great asset.

"En-enough about me. What are ya doing here anyway, Nora?" Lana asked, doubting this was a random visit.

"I wanted to inquire how you all were doing…" Nora explained, "I'm in town for the moment, so I figured I'd at least stop and see what all has changed. So far, it has been quite a lot from what I hear."

"Huh… well, our groups no longer seen as an evil criminal mob… We're kind of just seen as very charitable hardworking people, helping others out of debt, help get others off the streets, as well as helping improve others' lives," Lana exclaimed. She remembered the first big job she really had, that tested her mechanical skills, which was working with repairing carnival rides. She recalled it well in her mind, mainly because she almost lost a hand doing it.

"The reputation has improved that dramatically?" the black haired girl was a lot more surprised to know that they weren't seen as an organization of crooks anymore.

"It was a very slow and hard process, but Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Lisa did great as the acting leaders," Lance said, recalling all those meetings and the long thorough plans, which was headache inducing. He was impressed that they rarely faltered or failed.

"That's wonderful to hear. It would have made my mother proud… Well, I do apologize for interrupting your work. I must be off to visit some of the others," Nora got up and headed for the door.

"Please do me a favor and do not inform anyone that you've encountered me until tomorrow. I'd rather enjoy the surprises and reactions while I can," she laughed, before heading out the door. Lana, Lance and Estrella wondered the real reason as to why she wanted them to remain silent, but they decided to respect her request.

Lana cracked her neck while she got up. "Let's get back to work, you guys!"

"Suppose this is my fault for wanting to inquire with all the Louds before I went to meet Lincoln," Nora sighed as she pulled into a parking lot to the Royal Woods Golden Oak Middle School. She removed the keys before she got out of her vehicle. Today was going to be long and tiring. She wanted to check up on the most well known workers of the mafia, and the Louds were the most prominent figures inside.

"Summer school… an attempt to punish those that fail when they simply can choose not to go," Nora chuckled while wandering through the halls of the middle school. Since it was summer, it got minimal use. The janitor and club members were the ones who gathered here the most. Nora saw a few pre-teenagers going around to get to their activities they had been assigned today. "Now if only school was worth anything outside of socializing…"

"Hey, are you the substitute teach-errrrrr… wait… are you…?"

Nora turned around to see just who she expected. "Lynn Loud my how it's been ages since we last encountered each other… You certainly have become quite muscular since I last saw you."

Lynn looked like she had spent the last year alone lifting weights, her muscles being quite prominent, her auburn ponytail reaching her shoulders. She was wearing a jersey on the front, which read Best Coach looking like it was hand made.

"And you've become uh… less maniacal?" Lynn had no words, having not anticipated meeting with her former boss, and had no specific emotion to feel about this either.

"i'll have you know, i've improved in physical appearance plenty, after a week or two in rehabilitation," Nora retorted, the athletic teenager wanted to ask what she was doing within rehabilitation, but Nora spoke again.

"But I'm not here to discuss myself. I'm here to ask how you, the Louds, are doing."

Lynn was initially unsure but decided she needed to relax Nora did not seem to be hostile or acting suspicious.

"Alright, well… come on. Lucy and Luan are here too. I'll text them to meet up with my class out back." she began to lead her former boss through the school.

"I didn't take you for the teaching type," Nora commented. Lynn seemed to be here as a teacher more than anything else, she could half guess why as well.

"I'm more of a coach for the football team… I wasn't going to at all, but a lot of the students here are the younger siblings of my former classmates, so I decided to volunteer as a favor to them all," Lynn explained. She enjoyed being a coach, as it gave her perspective while letting her train and pass on her knowledge of various sports to others.

"I imagine those students are quite respectful," Nora commented as they were arriving to the back area of the school outside, the bright sun shining down on the football field.

"You're half-right," Lynn let her see for herself that many of people were doing various sports while in their football gear. Some were training with tackle dummies, and others were sprinting and practicing their passing. This was the first half of the group they were dedicated and hard workers.

"Oh dear…" Nora adjusted her glasses, seeing the rest of the team lazing around on the benches, playing video games playing cards or sleeping.

"I can't just boot'em off the team because they may be weights to others, but they are pretty good at blocking," Lynn claimed, "What can I say? Punishing someone already in summer school is like putting cookies in a cake, redundant."

"You may be strong, but you aren't that bright… You forgot the most important thing… motivation," Nora stated with that smile of hers, "You could say, a motive to win."

"The feeling of victory should be plenty of motivation," Lynn retorted.

"Lynn Loud, winning a barbaric sport is nothing. All you win is sweat, blood, concussions and spinal damage… The same thing you get when you lose," Nora claimed. Lynn held her head. She had no clue how to motivate the football players, they weren't her. She could not deny that Nora was partially right, the only difference was who the crowds cheered for.

"Well how do you motivate this?" Lynn wondered aloud. If she tried to take anything they owned away, their parents would complain that their perfect child was harassed and that she stepped out of line. It would also make the players resent her, something that would be more counterproductive.

"The same way you motivate any other idiot… I imagine you're quite rich right now?" Nora asked. Lynn rubbed her neck uneasily. She hated talking about money because it made her feel arrogant.

"Well… I mean, yeah… The ruby group income is amazing for all of us. Combined with the team I'm with, I'm set for life already," Lynn answered. She had joined a football team called the Leaf Stompers, but she doubted she would remain with them for long, but as the start of her sports career, it was great enough.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Nora stepped toward the lazy players and whistled loudly to garner their attention and make them stop what they were doing. They wondered who the black haired woman was, and if she was a principal from another school.

"Hello, children… how would you like to get an easy fifty dollars?" Nora offered, presenting a handful of the bills. The teenagers looked excited at the offer as she put the money in Lynn's hand.

"Here's the deal. Every game you win you'll each get fifty bucks. How does that sound?" the former mafia leader explained. The players looked to their coach, asking if this was true or not.

"Only way you'll find out if it's true or not, is if you win and do your best the next game. You better get to practicing," Lynn claimed, and just like that, the entire team was out on the field. Lynn held her auburn head, feeling ashamed to have done this tactic.

"Hey, Lynn! Sorry we took so long!"

Luan and Lucy had arrived. Lucy looked slightly shorter than Nora was, abut a head short to be exact. A black trench coat covered her body with her white and black long sleeved shirt underneath. Her long raven black hair covered half of her face and ran down her back. Luan was in a plaid dress, while her buckteeth seemed to have only become more prominent with time. Her ponytail of hair was quite long with a few joke pins on her chest.

"Nora?" Lucy stared in shock, Luan just as surprised.

"It's nice to see you again, Lucy… I believe we only met once before, Luan," Nora greeted them. Just like Lana, she had last met Luan years ago disguised as a Child Protective Services worker. The four went to take seats on some of the benches.

"So what are you doing here? I figured you were… y'know, dead… Everyone told me you just up and vanished one day after giving Leni that letter, I didn't think you were a magician." Luan claimed while making a bad pun, gaining some groans. Lucy and Lynn agreeing. Nora shook her head, guessing it was appropriate to explain where she had been to them.

"Once I turned over my rings to Lincoln, I decided to go into rehabilitation for a few weeks afterwards I left to Canada to start my new life… I wanted to help people like my mother did, and that is what I am doing now," Nora explained. She was quite happy for her life choices. The three sisters were glad to hear that she was enjoying life, but they were still surprised that she went into rehabilitation for her alcoholism.

"But enough about me I'm here to inquire how you, the Louds are doing?" she refocused the conversation. The gothic and comedian looked to their sporty sister who shrugged with no idea either, but it did not have any bad intention to it as far as she knew.

"Well I'm doing pretty good. I was stopping by to see if there was anything I could do to help Lynn and Lucy…" Luan explained, "I'm actually starting to get known for my comedy. I've got over seventy-five million views online. I'm mostly known for the infinite trap door portal gag, thanks to Lisa's inventions."

"The internet can be quite a successful ground for comedians," Nora stated.

"Yeah! It pays real well, and I'm getting booked for gig after gig, too," Luan nodded. She felt great to make all those people happy and laugh at her jokes, and the income she got in return was grand.

"I'm the counselor for the summer school. They wanted someone who was able to help those both emotionally and offer good advice," Lucy declared. Her gothic lifestyle made her quite suited for reading people's emotions.

"How have students responded to your advice thus far?" Nora asked. The raven haired Loud had certainly escalated with her occultism. She led people during rituals now, instead of being a follower, but they weren't anything big mainly just praising the dark overlords.

"I don't see them again, so I guess that's a good sign," Lucy shrugged. She was someone they just paid to give advice at the end of the day. Whether they did or not, she had no care. She was honest about things, and most appreciated the truth in matters.

"Everyone has been doing well… Why do you care though, Nora? I figured you really didn't like us," Lynn claimed. Nora stood up, fixing her glasses up since they slid down her nose often.

"You've all changed part of the world. While it may be small, it is growing each and every day. There always is something shady in the background where most can't see it… you've torn those dark veils apart to help everyone you can," Nora explained, and she turned and began to walk away, "What I'm saying is, I am jealous of you all… but very thankful for you doing what I could not… I must be off, please do not tell anyone you saw me until tomorrow, at least."

The former mafia leader left, the three Louds looking between one another in confusion, but they would do as they requested.

"I never really thought of it like that," Luan claimed.

"I guess how the background of the city is maintained is how the inhabitants are effected," Lynn said. It was an odd perspective spin, but they had helped Royal Woods out a lot just like their brother wanted.

"I sure hope she doesn't give Lincoln and Ronnie Anne trouble," Lucy added. Imagining Nora upsetting the Santiago girl was a terrifying thought, considering how short tempered their brother's wife was currently, "Come on. Let's go get some lunch. Practice is about done anyway."

A small area of Royal Woods had no traffic at the moment. It was bought temporarily to be used for recording an upcoming television show. Everything was still being setup and prepared for this evenings recording.

"My, my… I haven't been on a set in such a long time," Nora commented while walking through carefree, everyone thinking she was one of the actors. Finally she found who she was looking for.

"But Leni, what if red doesn't fit the scene?"

"Calm down, you look great, Lola! Just be like Lori. Relax and do your best."

"Good evening, ladies," Nora announced her presence as she stepped into the room where the actors were meant to get prepared or change when needed. There she saw Lori Leni and Lola, all as shocked as the rest of their family had been thus far when they laid eyes on her.

"Nora?!" Lori looked a lot more like the louds mother now. She was in a bright blue shirt and jeans, her blonde hair being brushed back more.

"Oh my gosh! How did you keep your looks?" Leni asked. Nora's face seemed relatively intact and free of wrinkles or other blemishes over the years. Leni had blonde hair so long that it ran down to her back to her knees, she was holding a makeup kit. She had been working on her siblings' makeup.

"I knew things had been too good today…" Lola murmured worriedly, wearing a sleek red dress shirt and white pants just like her twin. Her top front two teeth remained missing, and according to doctors, they might never grow in due to a genetic disorder.

"I'm just here for a friendly visit. No need to worry, as for the 'looks' comment, carrots are very good for your body." Nora approached them, wanting to focus back on her intention for being here.

"I wanted to ask how you Louds are doing? I'm going to only be in Royal Woods for today."

"Well, uh… we're kind of actors now," Lola answered, feeling some relief in her.

"Me and Lori were going to a theme park during a vacation, but we got lost and ran into some show producers at a diner when we wanted to get directions," the spoiled Loud child added. They had wound up accidentally being cast for the roles of said TV show.

"Yeah… for some weird show called 'A Sister's Debt'. A lot of people so far have been excited for it," Lori showed a poster that seemed to promote a show about a teenager girl, her boyfriend, her ten variously aged brothers and best friend dealing with mob issues after becoming in debt to one of the mafias.

"At least it's something we at least know, so they should be even more perfect for this," Leni commented with a bright smile. They had survived the mafia ordeal after all. However, this TV show sounded very familiar to them. They just couldn't put their finger on why.

"Bobby and Lobby have been doing great though. They're the sweetest family I could have ever asked for," Lori smiled while showing her gold band that represented her marriage to Bobby, then pulling out her cellphone and showing a picture to Nora.

"You certainly appear to be doing good as a mother," Nora commented. The picture showed Bobby and Lori holding the young Lobby on their shoulders. Bobby appeared to have put on a bit more facial hair, but not much more than his goatee.

"Thanks. I guess helping raise nine other sisters and Lincoln gave me a lot of experience," Lori smiled while viewing the picture.

"The roles they got are easy for them. Lori gets to be a crazy boss, and Lola is a personal itty bitty assistant of the evil group," Leni explained what parts her sisters were going to play in the show, mainly stuck in a sort of bad guy roles, but as much as they denied it, they were perfect for those roles.

"While that sounds lovely and everything, you have not told me your purpose here, Leni," Nora claimed.

"Oh, yes! I make their outfits! I guess you can say I'm also their makeup artist," Leni informed her, using this opportunity to get her fashion designer career advanced further. Just then, they heard the sound of a megaphone turning on.

"Lori and Lola, report to the set! We're ready for take scene three!" the director shouted, his loud voice with the megaphone able to rupture an eardrum.

"Well, good luck. I'll look forward to seeing you two on TV," Nora bid them farewell, doubting that she needed to request them to keep quiet. Leni would probably forget that she saw her, while Lori and Lola were going to be very preoccupied with their acting career.

"Thanks, Nora! It was nice seeing you… kind of," Lola said before heading off.

"Guess you opened this path for me… If it weren't for the ruby animal mafia job, I wouldn't be able to do this and take care of my family at the same time without running Bobby ragged," Lori extended her thanks to Nora, as begrudging as it came off, as she followed her younger sister to get to the set.

"Nora, can I ask why you trusted me with that letter? We both know I'm not that bright," Leni asked. After all, Nora had left her with the farewell letter of recognition when she could have trusted anyone else with said task.

"Well Leni, it's because the people who are the least intelligent tend to be the most trustworthy… Don't think of yourself as dumb, however. You are just more skilled with your hands," Nora replied, leaving on that note, letting her words of wisdom be a mood brightener to the now happy Leni, who went to watch her sisters do their roles.

"Only a few more stops to make…" Nora breathed out.

Here was the second to last stop for Nora as she pulled up to a psychiatric asylum, she got out of her car looking to the three-storey high building that had not just one, but two fences to get through for security.

"My… for being insane, we treat them as monsters… Suppose that's how those receive help when they cannot help themselves," Nora commented, this looked more like a hospital that had become a prison. Considering the person she was here to visit, that was most likely for the best.

"Hey there, Nora," the guard working at the fences' booth greeted her. He had a ruby hamster ring, the hamster holding the tiny ruby rock in its little hands like it was a snack about to be eaten.

"Good evening, Meyers. I'm glad you did not ignore or forget my phone call this morning," Nora greeted him. Meyers was a loyal former worker of hers, but he usually stuck to his jobs. If memory served her well, he never got in trouble. Things always went smooth like magic with his luck.

"Are you kidding, Nora? I'm just glad to see you alive! I got everything arranged with my friends inside… You wanted to see the Loud girl, right?" Meyers asked while opening both gates, leading his former boss inside, the gates automatically closing behind them after a few seconds.

"I believe her full name is Lincada Badder Loud… something of that sort. Her history, if my research is correct, is messier than my own, which is saying a lot," Nora replied as they entered the mental hospital, and they went to the second floor.

"I don't keep track of all the patients… or really any, but I wanna say she's on the 'Safe' list," Meyers scratched his head. The mental hospital had three lists; the danger, the cautious and safe lists, whose purposes were to warn doctors and nurses of who to be careful around.

"Huh… perfect time for a visit. It's lunchtime for the patients," Meyers added, seeing a few nurses wheeling a tray along.

"What luck," Nora and the guard followed along, and they arrived to one of the bigger rooms where people in white clothing sat at tables like a cafeteria, except there were three active televisions in various parts of the room.

"I presume the 'safe' patients get special privileges?" Nora guessed, the guard nodding.

"Yeah. They have worked hard to get this far. No one comes in safe. Anyone admitted gets filed under cautious until a week evaluation later… I guess you could say these privileges are a tiny motivator," the guard declared. His former boss at least understood that much. Motivation was a good aid in recovery, if rehabilitation had taught her that much.

"I don't see her anywhere," Nora said. Meyers pointed to the hallway.

"She's in Room 7. I'll stay here to not bother you, but call me if something happens," Meyers said.

"Very well," Nora nodded and began to head for the room. It only took a few moments for her to arrive, the door wide open with a small white board beside it like every other door, the name 'Lincada B. Loud' written on it.

"I shouldn't be afraid, but I suppose confronting the murderer of a former nemesis of my own is terrifying in its own regards," Nora entered into the small and rather quaint room. Two windows and a one person bed to the side were housed, and a desk in front of the first window.

"Thanks," Lincada's voice spoke while she took her food from the nurse, which was soup in a foam bowl. A typewriter, strangely enough, lay beside her on her desk.

"Miss Loud?" Nora spoke as the nurse left, gaining the female twin's surprised attention. Lincada had grown a lot over the half decade, her white hair grown to her shoulders, it would be longer but sadly it was not her own choice, but she was almost Nora's size.

"And who're you?" Lincada replied. The atmosphere, as Nora noticed, was strangely calm.

"I'm Nora. I led your brother's mafia… before I turned my leadership over to him," Nora introduced herself, aware that Lincada probably had never heard of her since she had her own mafia to manage.

"Oh… did Lincoln send you? I was expecting mom and dad to be here soon…" the teenage girl asked concernedly, wondering if something had happened. Her relationship with the Louds had improved dramatically, each sibling having come and interacted with her, and Lincada in turn opening up a lot better every visit.

"I'm sure your parents will be here soon… I on the other hand am here on my own business while I'm in town until tomorrow," Nora explained," I wanted to ask you how you were doing, and if you're recovering?"

"The doc's say I'm doing fine… I've got another four years here, I spend most of my days writing away on this old thing." Lincada claimed, pointing a thumb to the type writer. She had only gotten a ten year sentence to this mental asylum, as her defense attorney had done a miraculous job of using her life story to make the jury sympathize with her, making her easily get a light plea with insanity behind it all.

"I suppose I should congratulate you on your rehabilitation… Or thank you for clearing out royal woods expediently. It's a method I would have been glad to use myself," Nora responded while fixing her glasses, having learnt long ago that this girl, barely half her age, had gotten the bombs stolen with a ruby traitor while running that secret mafia in Lansing, "…is something the matter? I assumed you to be the bragging type."

"I know all I did at the time was horrible, and I didn't care… I got blinded by my own pitiful anger, when I should've just been thankful to be reunited with people who loved me," Lincada looked to the tiled floor in disappointment of herself. Lincoln talking sense into her had made her start to think of her actions and their consequences. The judge seeing her regret helped her case. "There isn't a single day that goes by where I don't see Lazzerson's face… that horror filled gaze in his eyes, when my dog murdered him… I feel so bad for it."

There was only silence for a moment before Nora decided to ask another question. She was aware that Lincada would most likely gain someone watching over her constantly once released, if that task was not trusted to some of her family members.

"What do you plan to do once you're released?"

"Me? I'm gonna do the same thing my brother is doing, but I'm going to do it twenty times more than him," Lincada declared, sounding determined to at least make up for her crimes.

"That's great to hear, sweetheart," the two heard, looking over to see Mr. and Mrs. Loud, having just arrived.

"It's a pleasure to see you two again," Nora greeted them, "I'm amazed at how supportive you have been here… I take it you two are doing relatively well?"

"Well, you know, it's been great, but some of the family have moved out from the house, of course… After their marriages, Lincoln and Lori both moved out. Leni went with Lori to help be a babysitter for Lobby," Mr. Loud explained. The Loud house had lost some of its members, but they were still regular visitors, having no intention to forget their family, despite the hard life growing up.

"Our lives have been uneventful… We're just proud that all our children are working hard to help the town," Mrs. Loud claimed. She was not going to bother inquiring with the former ruby mafia leader about why she was here. They had their disagreements and she could care less why she was here. Mrs. Loud went to Lincada and hugged her, glad to have her daughter back and willing to make up for all her past mistakes.

"Well, I'll leave you to your visit. Please do not tell anyone you saw me until tomorrow at the latest," Nora bid them goodbye. They wanted to ask why she wanted them to be quiet but she was long out of the room by then.

"One more stop to go," Nora thought as she headed back to her car.

After an hour long drive Nora parked at the ruby animal mafia's main headquarters. It had grown a lot in size, as a third floor was now built and it looked a lot more cleaned up, no longer run down and it had received the repairs it had needed for such a long time.

"I remember when this place was first built by mom, and then once I came, it became two floors. Who else must have provided its third floor but Lincoln," Nora could only think. The guards were surprised at the sight of their old boss, but she did not answer any inquiries, just walking past and heading inside.

"Wow… this place is so much cleaner," the black haired woman was surprised at how much better the base had gotten organized. Tons of people were handling their own tasks. The sound of an electric guitar rang out through the air.

"It appears there is a performance here, too," Nora began to head for the left, walking past most of the new members here. The few who did know the late leader were staring at her in shock and awe.

"Well at least they have actual talent," Nora adjusted her glasses seeing a small group gathered together near the break room part kitchen.

"Just as I expected," Nora smirked. There she could see Luna Loud jamming out with her electric guitar. She had gotten several new tattoos on her arms, and her hair had become messier and longer. Her amplifier shook with the hard beats. Luna was too busy playing her heart out, until the amplifier suddenly stopped.

"Huh? Hey! Who killed my amp-… whoa," Luna stopped herself when she saw Nora standing there, holding the cord she had unplugged from the wall.

"Our old boss?" Danny chimed up from the crowd. He had not changed much with the years, and neither did his best friend beside him.

"Is that really'er?!" Jackson asked in shock. The two of them had spent the last six years just doing loyal hard work for Lincoln and his family. Even if they messed up a lot, they still did their best for them.

"Please, stop deciding whether I'm dead or not, just because I decided to take my leave… Luna, I would request to talk to you with your other siblings," Nora stated, wondering why her leaving on her own terms made everyone presume she had died long ago. She even left that farewell letter to Leni when turning over her position of power to Lincoln.

"Uh… Lincoln's with Clyde, and Ronnie Anne in Jeffrey's medical bay getting checked out," Luna claimed while resting her guitar off to the side.

"I want to speak to Lincoln last. I have been listening to everyone today, so please allow me to just speak to you, Lily and Lisa," Nora informed the rocker Loud that she would prefer to talk to the other Loud siblings first before confronting their only brother.

"We'll go get'em for you, boss," Danny and Jackson volunteered, instantly noticing an irritated glare from her.

"I'm no longer your employer. That title, you should reserve the honor of to Lincoln Loud," Nora declared. The two understood, heading off to fetch the youngest Loud siblings from the laboratory in the cellar. The other ruby animal mafia members began to leave since the jam session was over.

"So how have you been, Luna? If I recall right, you and a couple of your sisters hated me the most," Nora stated. When everyone learnt the truth of Lincoln's debt years ago during his coma, the uprising rock star almost assaulted the former mafia leader.

"Yeah… and I still do a lot, only because you forced my brother down a path of life he didn't pick himself," Luna begrudgingly admitted. The very electric guitar she played to this day was the one Lincoln repaired for her as a gift in the very gift exchange, and she has kept it ever since.

"If you really care about how I'm doing, I finished recording my third album a week ago… I got to do the very thing I dreamed of doing for so long, collaborating with Mick Swagger," Luna explained while pulling out a CD case, letting Nora look over it.

"Twenty-five songs. The first ten are the ones that meant the most to us. We sang those together to give a new tune and spin to it. We made the rest of the songs together," Luna proudly exclaimed. The only copies released at the moment were owned by only her family members, they would be released in the next week.

"My… that is quite an achievement… Congratulations. Everyone has to work to achieve what they want. Some have to work more than others… I imagine you're quite the hard worker," Nora commented. The cover depicted Luna and the very man who made her want to pursue the rock star life, side by side and having the time of their lives.

"Thanks, but Lincoln's the one who helped me get here. Mick needed security for a concert since all of his roadies got hit by a bad stomach virus… We went and talked some, and things went from there," Luna explained, almost as if fate had set this chance open for her. She took the CD case back from Nora and pocketed it.

"Well my optical receptors must be playing a trick on me," Lisa's voice sounded. She stood there in a white lab coat that barely fit, her glasses being thicker and her hair being relatively unchanged, and having only grown taller by one foot.

"Who is she?" A nine-year-old Lily appeared from Lisa's side, in a pink and white striped shirt and shorts, her blonde hair reaching halfway down her back and looking relatively shiny.

"I'm Nora. I believe you've heard of my name from horror stories told by members here," Nora introduced herself. Lily had Bun-Bun sticking out from her shirt pocket, keeping a hand on it for comfort, mainly a habit she had formed a few years ago.

"Don't worry, Lily. She's just visiting," Luna claimed, the black haired woman nodding.

"I'm in town just for today, and I wanted to check up on everybody who had taken over my position… Before I go to visit your brother, can I ask how you both have been?" Nora requested. Lily looked too shy to directly respond yet, afraid of the former mafia leader. It was just something in her bones that made her scared stiff.

"Well, I have dedicated a lot of my time to research since I have not required school in an exceedingly elongated time. I have managed to create two breakthroughs in the medical field; a way to lower chemotherapy's chance of causing reoccurrences of cancer, as well as finding a way so the body does not reject donor organ transplants," Lisa elaborated. She was all over the news across the globe for two years over both of these breakthroughs, and knowing she helped save hundreds to thousands of lives from today to the future generations felt great to her.

"If only more people were as intelligent as you. Sadly, great minds are few and far between," Nora congratulated. Lisa smiled, knowing in her grand mind that their family was proud of her, even if it was what she declared to be the lowest of her achievements to come. To be the third-in-charge of the mafia was a small ego polishing at this point.

"I've been fine… I don't have anywhere else to be, so I just spend most of my days with my family," Lily could only say, compared to the rest of her family she had not yet discovered herself yet with nothing to do for summer, and she spent most of her days with a different set of siblings, not that any one of them minded.

"I'm sure you're doing everything to help out everybody… Just like your brother," Nora said. That gained a smile from Lily. Luna and Lisa appreciated the little motivator from the former mafia leader. The youngest Loud member looked up to Lincoln a lot like a heroic role model, despite his flounders he had occasionally. Nora began to leave, wanting to go to the medical bay.

"I'll be out of your way soon… For now, I must go meet your boss."

"Man… who knew the wait would take this long?" Clyde laid on one of the hospital beds. He had grown well and was slightly more buffed up, with military dog tags around his neck. He had gotten hurt on a job when a stack of crates fell on him, resulting in a decent bit of blood.

"You delaying the results is the worst part," Ronnie Anne growled, sitting nearby her long hair still in a ponytail, but she had certainly gained a lot more. A small baby boy was in her arms, wearing a rabbit shirt with dark white hair, barely being a year old. Clyde getting hurt was making the Santiago girl wait on something important.

"Ronnie Anne, relax. I'm sure it'll be all fine," Lincoln lightly laughed, sitting beside his wife, they were wearing his parents' wedding bands. He had grown a lot with his close ones, and had become semi-known throughout Royal Woods for all his charitable efforts with everyone. He was in a white suit with Leni's sunglasses dangling from the front pocket beside Luan's water-squirting flower, the shark tooth necklace dangling around his neck, and so many rings on both hands that they couldn't be counted.

"The more you worry, the slower the clock goes. Remember?"

"I just… you're right," Ronnie Anne sighed, feeling a cold sensation on her neck which made her look over to him. Lincoln's arm, which he had cut off, had been replaced by a robotic arm made by Lisa, thanks to Jayzo's blueprints that Lincada willingly gave to him. The robotic limb had to get improved in size each passing year, but he tolerated every procedure.

"Mommy just is excited to know whether you'll have a little sister or brother," Lincoln cooed quietly so Clyde couldn't hear, while rubbing his son's cheek. The infant yawned, snuggled into his mother's arms while having a peaceful dream.

"Well, isn't this just a quaint reunion…"

Their attention was instantly drawn to the voice of Nora who entered the medical bay. They all stared in shock.

"N…Nora?!" Ronnie Anne wanted to stand up, but Lincoln made her stay seated.

"Relax. I don't want you stressed out," Lincoln insisted, much to his wife's irritation.

"Wow… how come whenever I get hurt, things seem to go real crazy?" Clyde wondered aloud.

"I don't see why me visiting is being treated so horribly," Nora rolled her eyes. She approached the current ruby mafia leader who was now as tall as her and the other two.

"It's good to see you alive, Nora," Lincoln welcomed his former boss back to town, as they shook hands. Nora was not used to seeing him in this cyborg state, but tried to ignore the metallic arm. Lincoln had been offered a full arm transplant like David had received, but turned it down since Lisa worked so hard to make this replacement for him.

"Thank you, Mr. Loud… I see that you have become a father?" Nora asked.

"Yeah… uh… we got pregnant after our wedding…I mean that very night." Lincoln sheepishly admitted, bringing her over to his wife and son. He was a bright and happy man already, and when his son was born, it just made him even more joyous. "Nora, meet Leo Santiago Loud."

Leo, Lincoln and Ronnie's firstborn, had a bit of an odd birth. Being four months premature, he wound up in the hospital for a month and a half before being allowed to go home. Lincoln liked to joke that his son was too excited to wait any longer for his own birth, it was a rough time in their lives but they made it through alright.

"I still think Leo Loudiago sounds better," Clyde laughed. Ronnie Anne could not deny that Loudiago sounded catchy, but she saw no reason to merge their last names beyond the sake of convenience.

"Trust me, he looks sweet now, but he is a monster at night," Ronnie Anne told Nora, trying to relax and put the past behind her, despite all the built up past and hatred for all she had put them through.

"I certainly do not doubt that… I am passing through town and wanted to check up on you all… What are you waiting on that is so vitally important, if I may ask?" Nora responded while rubbing Leo's stomach. Ronnie Anne had taken to the role of mother perfectly, whether it was because of age or experience from helping with Lily and Lobby, she had become a nice and caring mother.

"We're waiting to find out the gender of our next child," Lincoln answered, receiving a punch to the arm from his wife.

"Lame-o! You promised we'd keep it all secret until after we heard the results!" Ronnie Anne berated her husband. They had not even told anybody they were expecting their next child, though her short temper seemed to give it away a lot.

"You guys are pregnant? Hahahah… I had a feeling," Clyde chuckled.

"Yeah. We're four and a half months along," Lincoln added. Nora could tell that Ronnie Anne was wearing mostly loose clothes, unintentionally hiding the weight gain she had put on. Leo yawned, wanting to keep napping.

"Congratulations. I hope your future is as bright as you've made Royal Woods. While I'm in town, I wanted to check up on you all and… I wanted to personally thank you," Nora explained, looking over the adults before her who stood once as children working underneath her, now the rulers atop of the city with the power, chance and control to make it better or worse. Nora was glad to know they were making it better.

"It's nothing, Nora. This is the town our children and my family's children are going to grow up in. After all, I'd be an idiot to not do my best to help it," Lincoln replied. Ronnie Anne half the time could still not believe how big that heart of his was, but she was glad to know that he was going to do his best for everyone.

"I'm sure Leo will be as crazy as his dad," Clyde said.

"No way! Leo's going to be like me," Ronnie Anne retorted to their friend.

"I'll just let him be who he'll be," Lincoln shrugged. They heard the door open and saw Jeffrey enter. Father time had not been too kind to him. Aside from some of the extra weight, he had gained a lot of wrinkles. A surprised look showed on his face currently.

"Nora…! Hey, nice to see ya," Jeffrey greeted the former boss, but Nora had called in advance to let the African doctor know she was coming, just so he would not be distracted during any medical procedures.

"Greetings, Jeffrey," Nora adjusted her glasses, watching him put up x-ray pictures of Clyde's head nearby so they can see for themselves.

"Well first, Mr. McBride, since you're the simplest right now, you're fine. All the bleeding came from some boils on the back of your head that busted open when the crates fell on you… downside is you're going to need a thorough head scrubbing. The good news is you're healthy," the mafia's doctor informed Clyde of the source of all the bleeding. At most, he might have a light concussion.

"Ewww… Well thanks, Doctor Jeffrey, but I'm more interested in the news about them," Clyde addressed to his two friends beside him.

"You've made us wait, like, forever," Ronnie Anne glared.

"Calm down, honey. We're here to find out the gender of our next child. No need to be so worked up," Lincoln held her hand, wanting to hear the verdict.

"I must say, I'm interested as well," Nora nodded. She would stay to hear the news as well. She was not on a timer anyway. She was only able to spend part of today in Royal Woods passing through the town while heading to another place on important business, but she had time to spare.

"They're girls," Jeffrey told them bluntly.

"We're having twins?" Lincoln gleefully asked.

"I kind of expected it, with how big I'm getting for only four months in…" Ronnie Anne confessed, smiling. She then cooed to the infant Loudiago boy, "You hear that, Leo? You're going to have two little sisters."

"No, you're not having twins," the doctor claimed. They could hear Clyde laughing lightly.

"Triplets?! Wow dude, 'grats," the military boy clapped for his best friend. The married couple was surprised, but happy nonetheless.

"Guess it's a good thing I've got both of my arms," Lincoln looked at his ring-covered hands. Even if one arm was robotic, he was able to control it just as good as his remaining organic arm. The only ring sticking out to him besides his wedding band, was the ruby spider ring that he saw as a personal memento.

"No. It appears that it's not triplets, either," Nora informed them. She could tell by Jeffrey's look that it was not triplets. They were all confused until the doctor chimed up, trying to get over his own surprise.

"You're having quintuplets, and they're all girls. Congratulations," Jeffrey rubbed his head, still getting over the surprise himself. The room went so quiet that a fly buzzing in the hallway could be heard.

"Bahahhahah! Oh my gosh! Lincoln! What kind of power do you got in that cannon of yours?!" Clyde began laughing out of control, accidentally falling out of his hospital bed. Nora could only cover her mouth to suppress her own laughter.

"Q…quintuplets… five babies at once?" Ronnie Anne murmured. Imagining it alone was stressing her out. She looked to her husband to see his reaction.

"Heh… well, Ronnie Anne, that's six out of twenty," Lincoln grinned. His wife handed Leo over to the doctor, before she approached her husband.

"I didn't plan on our family growing THAT fast… Let's see how much you're laughing after this," Ronnie Anne cracked her knuckles. Lincoln, as he expected, was tackled by his pregnant wife to the floor. She had not changed much, he wouldn't want it any other way either.

"Sorry, sorry! I-I can't help that I got my dad's luck!" Lincoln apologized in-between his own laughter, the news keeping him happy. He wondered how the rest of his family would react when they heard the news, but figured they would be probably as shocked as they were.

"I've only had two other patients pregnant with quintuplets… Their relationships didn't last, but I think you two'll be fine," Jeffrey commented, while Leo was grabbing some of the fingers on the doctor's other hand.

"Don't worry. They have plenty of people to rely on," Clyde gave a thumbs up.

"Ahahah…" Lincoln was enjoying the somewhat chaotic reaction, when he looked around. In the confusion, Nora had left the room. "…Nora?"

"So this is the new Royal Woods. The head of a new mafia has transformed it piece by piece. A town that was once chaotically caught between the grips of three different groups fighting for power… now a growing paradise for all to flourish," Nora let out a content sigh as she approached her car, slowly opening it and getting inside.

"Now if only the rest of Michigan was as good as this… Hopefully, it'll be a while before other groups try to take over Royal Woods," Nora started the car up and began to drive away. She was ready to head back to her task, now that her business in Royal Woods was finished. Her car driving off into the distance, to leave the city.

Later that same night, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were in the living room of their new home, that soon the two would need to upgrade in size, for the sudden growth in family members that was coming in a few months. Every one of the available Louds, Clyde and Bobby were here, too.

"…and that's the news…" Lincoln finished the brief explanation. He would also have to tell Lincada this during his next visit to her. Her pet dog, Grane, lay nearby, having been adopted by her male twin as a favor. The dog was sweet and very loyal to them thus far.

"You're having what?!" the entire room shouted. Leo was in his grandmother's arms, not responding to the noise. It seemed he was a very heavy sleeper, appearing to enjoy his slumber, nap time was over for him when he decided it was over.

"We're having quintuplets," Ronnie Anne repeated for her husband.

"Wow… I once had a nightmare-err…" Bobby caught himself when his wife glared at him with Lobby sitting in her lap, playing with her, "Err… a dream, that me and Lori had quintuplets."

"Son, you certainly have my luck," the Louds' father laughed.

"A lot more than his luck," Mrs. Loud added.

"I mean, I'm happy about it," Lincoln smiled. How he was able to face this with nothing but confidence was impressive. Grane came over to his temporary owners, getting petted by Ronnie Anne.

"Do you have any names for them yet?"

"They're all going to be girls too?"

"You must have a large amount of X chromosomes."

"I'll be the best auntie!"

"That rocks! Your house is really gonna get loud!"

"I'm going to have to make a lot more baby clothes for your shower."

"They're going to be fashion princesses, just like me!"

"They'll be protected by the dark overlords. I promise so."

"There's no need to be 'babies' about this!"

"Luan!"

While hearing all his family talking, Lincoln could only sit back with a smile.

"Royal Woods has changed for the better… and so have all of us… well, at most. We Louds, Santiagos and McBrides are changing the future to as bright as we can. It'll be hard, but we're ready to face whatever challenge finds us." He let out a relaxed sigh.

"I love you all… I love my life. I was stupid for ever wanting to end it."

 **The end...**

 **Well, there it is folks! The end of my first ever fanfiction. I hope it was enjoyable, and thank you all ever so much for your constant support. I worked my hardest to update it daily for you all, for the last 3 months. Since I receive so many PM's of various topics, the main ones I'm addressing are the ones asking 'what if?'**

 **I made this fics world open for people to add their own stories to it, their own OC's, anyone can write their own parts to this if they desire, creating OC's for the story is welcome as long as it fits. You can draw art for the story, you do not need my permission, I just request that if either is done that the original story be credited.**

 **If you did not like this story, I apologize. I tried my best to make every character I made unique and stand out, while trying to keep all the characters from the show in their original style while they developed and grew.**

 **Have a good day and take care all!**


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